This day in history

1709: Peter I of Russia signs an ukase forming Russia’s first Marines regiment.

1880: Tsarist Russia’s Interior Ministry establishes a police department to combat the revolutionary movement.

1897: Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works starts manufacturing cast iron in what is currently Donetsk oblast of Ukraine.

1918: The Academy of Sciences (currently the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) is established in Kyiv, headed by President Volodymyr Vernadsky.

1971: The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Mars 2 orbiter and lander. The spacecraft reaches Mars; due to on-board computer malfunction the lander enters the Martian atmosphere incorrectly, which results in crash landing and loss of the probe.

2004: NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urges the Ukrainian administration to carefully study the results of the presidential campaign.

2004: The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passes a bill aimed at overcoming the political crisis.