Currently, the Union State is implementing about ten social programs aimed at providing assistance to disadvantaged citizens, Chernobyl victims, the elderly, children, and large families. "Approximately 750 million Russian rubles, or $25 million, are allocated annually for their financing. Next year, the union parliamentarians will have to adopt several more social programs, so the allocations for these purposes will only grow," noted Pavel Borodin.

The Pyatnitsky State Academic Russian Folk Choir will give a jubilee concert today dedicated to the choir's 100th anniversary at the Summer Amphitheater. Russian art masters will perform together with the famous choir: Larisa Dolina, Renat Ibragimov, Tamara Gverdtsiteli, and other popular artists. The state ensemble "Pesniary" will be a guest of the jubilee concert.

July 10, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Flower collages by masters from Russia, Belarus, and Armenia can be seen in Vitebsk during the "Slavianski Bazaar" arts festival, the Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore informed a BELTA correspondent.

In total, 28 events are planned from 2011 to 2015, with their implementation occurring at different times. As of January 1, 2013, the utilization of funds in this area amounted to over 266 billion rubles.

In Vitebsk, the city's best large family will be chosen today, the Vitebsk City Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent.

During a special operation conducted by officers of the Smuggling and Administrative Customs Offenses Department of the Vitebsk Customs, with the participation of the Novopolotsk Inter-district Department of the Financial Investigations Department of the State Control Committee, a truck with a semi-trailer was detained. The truck was transporting a machine tool, polyphosphate, and polyethylene from Belarus to Russia.

Vitebsk will now be able to celebrate its Groundhog Day. The Vitebsk Zoo has acquired a young pair of bobaks, or steppe marmots, from a breeding center for these animals in the Moscow region, reported the zoo's director Irina Orlova.

The Prime Minister noted with satisfaction that in the Vitebsk region, the plans for the reconstruction of dairy farms in 2012 have been revised, and there are intentions to increase the number of farms with milking parlors and robotic complexes to 96. In total, 228 dairy farms are to be reconstructed in the region this year. "If earlier there were doubts in the government about the implementation of these plans, then based on the data we have today and on the basis of what has been seen, we can state the reality of fulfilling the set tasks," noted Mikhail Myasnikovich.

Housing and communal services issues most concerned the residents of the Ushachy district during a personal meeting with the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, Vladimir Andreichenko, Irina Litvinova, chief specialist of the sector for working with appeals from citizens and legal entities of the Ushachy District Executive Committee, told a BELTA correspondent.

On September 7, 2013, the Rossony District Executive Committee will hold an open tender in the form of a competition for the right to harvest and (or) purchase chironomid larvae within the territory of Lake Rossono for a period of 3 (three) years.

The grand opening of the XXVI International Festival of Modern Choreography (IFMC) will take place today in Vitebsk

From January 1, a separate structure of bailiffs began to operate in Belarus as part of judicial reform.

Gorodok district has been transformed and prepared to welcome the best agricultural workers.