Russia

Obama Chides Putin, Notes That its Time to Move on From Cold War
Just a few days removed from a summit Moscow, President Obama gently chided former Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he has "one foot in the old ways."

History and Timeline of Russian Czars
Did you know that during the reign of the Russian czars, Russia had become a European superpower? Let us take a quick look at the interesting history and timeline of the Russian czars.

President Obama Seeks Russian Help on Iran, But No Deal in Place
As Barack Obama seeks Russian cooperation in nullifying a potential future Iranian nuclear threat, Russia continues to be concerned with U.S. missile defense in the region.

Roughly One Third of Russian Fighter Jets Deemed Obsolete and Unsafe
In a blow to Russia's growing image as a re-emerging world military power, its defense ministry confirmed that over 200 of its fighter jets are obsolete and not safe for flight.

Russian Leader Says His Country Wants to Help U.S. in Afghanistan
Russia, which fought its own 10-year war in Afghanistan, has noted via President Dmitry Medvedev that they would be willing to assist the U.S. in bringing stability to the war-torn country.

Russia and Cuba Look to Renew Old Alliance
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, relations between Russia and Cuba have been largely symbolic. Now the two nations are moving to strengthen their old bonds and build a foundation for the future.

Russia Cuts Gas Supply to Balkans, Residents Freezing
Russian has stopped shipping heating fuel through Ukraine, leaving many in Bulgaria and other Balkan nations out in the cold.

Russians Getting Feisty, Plan on Testing Obama on Arms Issues
The U.S.’s erstwhile Cold War enemy Russia has indicated concern over American missile defense measures of late, and plans to test President-elect Barack Obama on the issue.

Russia Not Sharing in Obama Celebration, Tests Missiles
Not believing the good intentions of the U.S., Russia is running missile testing operations near areas in Eastern Europe that are slated to get U.S. missile defense bases.

UN Pushes Russia-Georgia Cease Fire
The U.N. Security Council is scrambling to end hostilities between Russia and Georgia while aid organizations are denied entry into war torn areas.

Russian Army Makes a Move against Georgian Forces
Segments of the Russian Army have moved into the capital of South Ossetia to stop Georgian Forces from overtaking separatist forces.

Russians Release American Pastor
A Russian court has decided to release the American pastor charged with smuggling ammunition into the country.

Pastor Imprisoned for Smuggling Ammunition
An American pastor has been imprisoned for smuggling hunting ammunition into Russia.

Russian Babies Have Their Mouths Taped Shut by Yekaterinburg Hospital Staff
Russian prosecutors are looking into allegations that the staff of a hospital in Yekaterinburg intentionally gagged babies to keep them from crying.

Catherine The Great - Empress of Russia
Much has been made of Catherine's morality, or rather the lack of it. Taken in the context of the era though, having numerous lovers was more high fashion than low crime.

Iran Stops Cooperating with IAEA, Still Negotiating with Russia
The Iranian government on Sunday announced that it is ending all voluntary cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency but it will consider Moscow’s proposal to shift its uranium enrichment operations to Russian territory.

Russia Chechnya Conflict
Russia has always said that its military campaign in Chechnya is part of what Moscow calls "an anti-terrorist operation", and that peaceful Chechen civilians have nothing to fear. The Chechen rebels on the contrary call their struggle as a "war of liberation". They say that Chechnya has never voluntarily joined Russia and has only ever been conquered by military force.

Russian Cuisine
The foundations of Russian cuisine were laid by the peasant food of the rural populations in an often harsh climate, with a combination of plentiful fish, poultry, game, mushrooms, berries and honey.

Russia Urges Global Help for Ukraine to Help Pay Gas Bill
International community urged to bail out Ukraine amid fears of another gas war

Russia's Richest Oligarchs See Assets Fall By 70% in a Year
Forbes Russia reveals number of billionaires is down from 110 in 2008 to 32, in annual survey of 100 richest people

Russians in Space: Sputnik, Gagarin and Dogs in Orbit
Kremlin in bid to reclaim prestige opens new museum to celebrate scientific and technological achievement

Russia Ends Anti-terrorism Operations in Chechnya
• Move signals formal end to Kremlin's war in the republic• Power of Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, set to be strengthened

EU Still Without Gas After Russia and Ukraine Reignite Pipeline Row
Moscow claims US has hand in stoking row as Kiev claims Gazprom sending gas wrong way down lines

Russia Blames Us As Eu Gas Supplies Halt Again
Gazprom deputy chairman describes Ukraine as 'like a madman with a razorblade'

Russia-Ukraine Gas Deal Hit By Last-minute Hitch
Moscow declares deal void because of additions demanded by Kiev, while Czech mediators insist it is still alive

Deal to Resume Russian Gas Eludes Eu As 11 People Die in Big Freeze-up
Homes across Europe remain freezing after Russia and Ukraine fail to resume gas deliveries

Russian Gas Crisis to Keep Bills High As Firms Divert Uk Stocks
Britain exports supplies to Europe as row between Russia and Ukraine exacerbates shortages

Russia-Ukraine Gas Crisis Intensifies As All European Supplies Are Cut Off
Moscow's state-owned energy giant Gazprom accuses Kiev of closing last open pipeline ahead of key talks tomorrow

Russia-Ukraine Gas Crisis Intensifies As All European Supplies Cut Off
State-owned Russian gas group Gazprom today cut off all supplies to Europe through Ukrainian pipelines, with both countries continuing to blame each other for the deadlock

Row Over Russian Gas Chokes Supply to Rest of Europe
Deliveries via Ukraine reduced to a quarter of normal levels, with Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania and Turkey all hit

Russian Gas Row May Cost Uk Customers
Pipelines that cross Ukraine carry about a fifth of the EU's gas needs, and dispute will reduce security of supply

Jitters Across Eu As Russia Cuts Ukraine Fuel Supply
US and European leaders urge rapid end to row between Kiev and Moscow

Russia Cuts Gas to Ukraine Over Unpaid Bills
Gazprom chief executive says full gas shipments to European Union will continue uninterrupted

Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Gazprom Awards Contract to Rolls-royce
Gazprom today launched a charm offensive in London by awarding Rolls-Royce a compressor contract for the new Russian-European gas pipeline

Russia Renews Tax Bill to Ousted British Offices
Moscow court reinstates £2.3m tax bill for the British Council, threatening brief thaw in Russo-British relations

Russian State's Plans for Soviet Bubbly Get Up Noses of Producers
'Soviet champagne' may be sickly and poorly packaged but it has a place in every Russian's heart

Russia to Raise Nuclear Missile Output Fourfold
Senior government official in Moscow says military will commission 70 strategic missiles over next three years

Russia Warns Europe It Could Face Gas Shortages
Dispute with Ukraine could disrupt pipelines this winter, says Gazprom. By Terry Macalister and David Gow

Russia Offers Fighter Jets to Lebanon As Gifts
Moscow challenges US arms supply with biggest upgrade of Lebanese military since civil war

Russian Skinhead Gang Jailed for Murder of 20 Migrants
Ringleaders Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky sentenced to 10 years in prison for racist killing spree

Russian Court Jails Murderous Racist Skinhead Gang
Teenage killers stabbed to death 20 migrant workers at random and targeted 12 more

Russian Firms Most Likely to Use Bribery, Says Report
Anti-corruption body finds companies often bribed politicians and officials when doing business abroad. By Kathryn Hopkins

Russian Leader Follows Warships to Venezuela in Boost to Alliance
Dmitry Medvedev will meet Hugo Chávez to deepen economic and military links between the countries

Russian Mps Vote to Extend Presidential Term
Russia's lower house of parliament today approved a proposal increasing the presidential term from four to six years, in a move which is likely to lead to the swift return to power of Vladimir Putin

Russia Close to Economic Collapse As Oil Price Falls, Experts Predict
Russia faces possible devaluation of the rouble and a severe drop in living standards next year

Russia Fires Warning Shot Over Us Missile Plan
Dmitri Medvedev's move to station missiles in Europe clouds potential meeting with Barack Obama

Medvedev Moves to Tighten Russian Leadership's Grip on Power
Proposals could see Vladimir Putin back in the Kremlin for two six-year terms as early as next year

Critics Alarmed As Medvedev Reveals Plan to Extend Russian Presidential Term to Six Years
Putin expected to benefit from constitutional reform as he could return as president in 2012

Twilight of the Oligarchs
First communism, now capitalism collapses. Is this end of an era for Russia's super-rich?

How the West will Lose the Entire Caucasus Area
Russians know very well that if they don’t manage to eliminate every voice calling for freedom, national liberation, independence, and secession in the Northern Caucasus region, eventually the entire Russian colonial empire will melt down.

European Exports Help Gazprom Profits Soar By 30%
World's largest gas producer publishes record quarterly figures but warns credit crunch could hit cashflow

Russia, Iran and Qatar Announce Cartel That Will Control 60% of World's Gas Supplies
European commission poses immediate opposition to Opec-style cartel amid fears of rising prices

Oleg Deripaska: Profile
40-year-old oligarch is Russia's richest man, according to Forbes magazine

Dagestan – A Terrorized Land in Turmoil
Just today, 5 Russian officers have been killed in clashes with forces of the national liberation of Dagestan whom the Russian tyrants indiscriminately call ‘Islamists’.

Nyet Profit: Moscow's Multi-billionaires Feel the Pinch, Relatively
The overthrow of global capitalism now appears to be happening, including in Russia

UK's Russian Ambassador Calls for Extradition of Alexander Litvinenko Murder Suspect
Anna Pringle urges Moscow to hand over Andrei Lugovoi, the chief suspect in the London polonium killing

Russian Lawyer at Centre of Poisoning Investigation
French police examine alleged poisoning of Putin critic prior to Anna Politkovskaya murder trial

Russia Begins Final Pull-out From Georgia Buffer Zone
Russia began its final pull-out from the so-called buffer zone next to Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia this morning, in a move that is likely to lead to a permanent redrawing of the map of Europe

Car Bomb Kills Russian Troops in South Ossetia
Russia's defence ministry blames Tbilisi for 'deliberately planned terrorist attack'

EU Monitors Begin Patrols of Russian-held Zone in Georgia
No sign of withdrawal despite pledge by Moscow, while civilians complain of kidnaps and theft by Ossetians

Five Children Killed As Stairs Collapse at Russian School
Another four injured and 800 evacuated after maintenance work undermines staircase

Children Buried As Stairs Collapse at Russian School
One killed and eight missing under rubble after maintenance work undermines staircase

Russia Challenges West With Nuclear Overhaul
President announces plan in major military exercise as Kremlin plans to increase defence spending by 27%

Bitter Rival of Chechnya's Leader is Shot Dead in Russian Capital
Russia launches investigation into assassination of Ruslan Yamadayev, rival of president Ramzan Kadyrov

Russia to Investigate Assassination of Ruslan Yamadayev
Brother of Yamadayev claims Chechnen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, is behind the killing

Moscow Trade Halted Again As Stocks Soar
Putin says Russian economy is secure, citing sound 'fundamental indicators' and currency reserves

Banking Crisis: Russian Markets Stage Dramatic Comeback
Russia's MICEX and RTS reopened today after their suspension two days ago – only to shut again for an hour as shares soared. By Luke Harding in Moscow

Aggressor Russia Facing Pariah Status, Us Warns
Kremlin accused of aggression as OSCE monitoring forces refused entry to South Ossetia

US Accuses Russia of Attempting to Topple Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
Condoleezza Rice says Russian president and prime minister have launched Moscow on path to pariah status

Russia Puts South Ossetia Off-limits to International Monitors
Negotiations led by European security bloc the OSCE break down, with Kremlin refusing access to breakaway regions

Oil Price Fall and Global Crisis Force Suspension of Russian Stockmarkets
Russia suspends trading on its two main stock exchanges after shares plummet

Russian Exchanges Halt Trading As Shares Plummet
Finance ministry steps in to buoy financial and oil markets as country pays price for integrating into global economy

Crimea: Divided Peninsula Plays Host to Russian Warships and Ukrainian Pride
Tensions have risen since the war in Georgia and Kiev's plans to join Nato

Russia's Opec Bearhug is Something to Worry About
Richard Wachman: Any pact that paves the way for Russia to become a full member of the cartel would present a threat to countries such as Britain

Medvedev Describes Georgia Attack As Russia's 9/11
Georgia's attack on South Ossetia was unnecessary, unprovoked and encouraged by US, says Dmitry Medvedev

Russia Sends Warplanes on Venezuela Training Mission
Two strategic bombers to carry out practice flights over neutral waters before returning home

Russian Troops to Stay in Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Russia said today its troops would stay in the breakaway Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for a long time to come, a day after Moscow agreed to pull its forces out of other Georgian territory within the month

Tobacco: Russian Regulator Launches Legal Action Against Bat
'Nicotine genocide' claims laid against firm for making profit at expense of country's health

Russia to Leave Georgia After Eu Deal
Forces to pull out within a month following agreement between Sarkozy and Medvedev

Russia Agrees Deadline to Withdraw Forces From Georgia
French president Nicolas Sarkozy hails 'momentous' Moscow agreement to pull forces out of Georgia within a month

Russia: Kremlin Wins War But Faces New Battle As Investors Scramble for Exit
$19bn taken out of country since invasion of Georgia began on August 8

Energy: Bp Makes Peace With Oligarchs By Axing Joint Venture Chief
Chief executive Robert Dudley to leave TNK-BP by end of year after apparent pressure from Kremlin

Russia Sets Conditions for Withdrawal of Remaining Troops From Georgia
International peacekeepers must be in place and Tbilisi must sign non-aggression pact, Russian ambassador to UK says

Cheney Heads for Tbilisi As Russia Warns Against Rearming Georgia
Bush administration unveils $1bn aid package to help rebuild civilian infrastructure

EU Leaders Act Against Russia With Freeze on Strategic Pact Talks
Relations with European Union are at a crossroads, emergency summit of 27 leaders says

Relations With Russia at Crossroads, Say Eu Leaders
Emergency summit pledges strong support for Georgia and freezes talks with Moscow until ceasefire terms are satisfied

Russia Issues Saakashvili Warning As Eu Leaders Head to Emergency Summit
Western support for Georgian leadership would be a mistake of 'historic proportions', says foreign minister

Trade War Looms Between Moscow and Ankara
Russia believed to be punishing Turkey for allowing US ships to pass through Bosporus straits

Georgia: Divided Eu Prepares to Review Stand on Russia at Emergency Summit
Nicolas Sarkozy convenes meeting to concentrate the minds of leaders on their policies towards Moscow

Russia Accuses West of 'bias' Over Actions in Georgia
Foreign ministry says it rejects international condemnation of invasion as EU appears to be backing away from sanctions

Putin Claims Georgian Crisis is Us Ploy As Russia's Isolation Grows
Russian prime minister says Caucasus crisis was started by the Americans as an election campaign ploy

EU Threatens Sanctions Against Russia
Leading European powers losing patience with Kremlin's sabre rattling in the Caucuses

UK Rejects Russia Over Throwback to Spheres of Influence
David Miliband says plan made in aftermath of second world war redundant in modern diplomacy

Russia Defies West By Recognising Georgian Rebel Regions
Georgia condemns announcement after Medvedev signs decree on independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia

Russian Vote Sets Up Clash With West Over Georgia
MPs back independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia despite criticism from US and EU

Russia Accused of Violating Ceasefire Deal
Georgia appeals to the international community to pressure Russia to end its 'occupation'

The Proof That Russia is Digging in Deep in the Heart of Georgia
Russian troops continue to occupy large areas of the country in breach of a ceasefire deal signed by Moscow

Russia Digs in As It Defies Calls to Pull Troops Out of Georgia
Invading forces are set to stay for the long term, reports Luke Harding

Partial Russian Pullout Angers West
George Bush and Nicholas Sarkozy accuse Russia of failing to 'comply' with the ceasefire deal

Russia Begins Troop Withdrawal From Georgia
Russian military convoy pulls out of the Senaki military base and city of Gori

Relief As Russia's Army Pulls Back
Withdrawal follows a series of delays and mixed signals from the Kremlin about when it intended to leave Georgia

Russia Suspends Military Cooperation With Nato
Russian foreign minister says Nato needs Moscow more than Moscow needs Nato as fallout from Georgia conflict grows

Saakashvili Doubts Russian Withdrawal From Georgia
Moscow is 'making fun of the world', president says as he predicts 'passive resistance' to occupation

Russia: Miliband Backs Georgia and Widens Nato Split
US and European diplomats say it is too early to say what impact new structure will have

Georgia: Cold War Map Will Not Be Redrawn, Us Warns Russia
Nato countries declare 'no business as usual' with Moscow until it withdraws its forces from Georgia

Russian Tanks Begin Withdrawal From Gori
Column pulls out in first sign Moscow is reducing military presence in Georgia under EU-brokered ceasefire

Russia and Georgia Exchange Prisoners of War
Fifteen Georgians and five Russians swapped, but Russian tanks show no signs of imminent withdrawal

Nato Rebukes Russia and Signals Support for Georgia
Secretary general says defence organization cannot ignore recent events and backs membership for Georgia

US Urges Nato to Punish Russia for Operations in Georgia
Washington calls for freeze on Nato-Russia council after Condoleezza Rice flies into Brussels for emergency meeting

No Sign of Military Withdrawal As Russian Armour Stays Put
Russia defiant in face of EU-brokered ceasefire deal, with no sign of significant troop withdrawals

Troops Show No Signs of Leaving Gori Despite Russian Promises
Army chief claims pull-out of 'peacekeepers' has begun, as Georgian president calls for talks with Moscow

Georgia Urges Moscow Not to 'sow Discord'
Mikheil Saakashvili softens his tone as he calls for talks with Russia whose forces are due to pull out of Georgia today

Russia Warned: Withdraw From Georgia, or Else
US and European governments due to meet for the first time since crisis erupted 10 days ago

Sarkozy Threatens 'consequences' As Russia Stalls on Georgia Pullout
French president demands Moscow honor ceasefire as Medvedev pledges troops will begin withdrawal tomorrow

Russia Denies South Ossetia Pullout Under Way
defense ministry official says withdrawal under consideration, after claims process had begun

Fear of Russian 'protection' Spreads to Ukraine and the Baltic
Russia's justification for wresting control of South Ossetia has raised concerns throughout the former Soviet Union

Russia Signs Ceasefire Deal But Troops Stay in Georgia
Ceasefire agreement signed to end war in Georgia but no indication of when Russian troops to withdraw

Georgia and Russia Declare Ceasefire
Tbilisi and Kremlin agree to end hostilities over South Ossetia in deal brokered by French leader Nicolas Sarkozy

Georgia Agrees to Ceasefire With Russia
Saakashvili's signature formally ends hostilities as Condoleezza Rice calls on Moscow to withdraw tanks

Georgia Conflict Could Set Back Russia's Us Relations 'for Years'
US defence secretary warns Moscow: stop 'punishing' Georgia for western integration or risk damage to Washington relations

US and Russia in War of Words Over Georgia Conflict
US says Russia sabotaging military infrastructure in Georgia, while Russia says it is concerned about US airlifts to the region

Georgia Claims Russia Sending More Troops to Gori
Tbilisi says Kremlin dispatching more soldiers across border

Russians Pulling Out of Gori, Says Georgian Foreign Ministry
South Ossetia conflict moves into fragile ceasefire, with Kremlin's next move unclear

Russia Exaggerating South Ossetian Death Toll, Says Human Rights Group
Deliberate attempts by the Russian government to exaggerate the number of people killed in the South Ossetia conflict are provoking revenge attacks on Georgian villagers in the breakaway republic, a respected human rights group claimed today

Russian Billionaire in Talks to Buy Hummer Brand
Car's future has been in balance since early June when GM announced strategic review of business

Rights Group: Russia Inflating Casualty Figures
Team investigating damage in South Ossetia, says estimates of 2,000 dead are 'suspicious'

Georgian Villages Burned and Looted As Russian Tanks Advance
Mood of panic as eyewitnesses say ceasefire being broken by Russian military and 'irregulars'

Russian Tanks Enter Gori, Says Georgia
Russia denies violating ceasefire after Georgian troops pull out of Abkhazia

Miliband Criticises Russian 'aggression' in Georgia
Foreign secretary says there could be a role for international peacekeepers in settling Caucasus conflict

Georgia Retreats From Abkhazia As Russia Dictates Truce Terms
Russia demands withdrawal of Georgian forces from breakaway regions to prevent further military action

Georgian Conflict Leaves West Reeling and Russia Walking Tall
In less than a week, Putin has redrawn the geopolitical map of a vital strategic region, write Ian Traynor and Ian Black

Defiant Georgia Refuses to 'surrender to Russian Occupiers'
Georgian president Mikhail Saakhashvili says country will not be 'broken into pieces' by Moscow

Attacks on Georgia Continue Despite Russian President's Calls to Halt
Two villages outside South Ossetia under attack, despite Moscow's vow to end fighting

Surrender or Else, Russia Tells Georgia
Kremlin calls halt to offensive and dictates humiliating terms

Supporters Cheer Pledge By President to Punish Russia
Georgian troops forced out of second breakaway region, Abkhazia

Nato Stops Here
David Hearst: For years Russia's leaders have argued: push the line of confrontation eastwards and we'll push back. Last week, they did

President Orders End to Russian Military Operations in Georgia
Dmitry Medvedev says Russian forces have re-established security for Russian peacekeepers and civilians in breakaway South Ossetia region

Georgian President Says Country is Split As Russian Troops Advance
Mikhail Saakashvili says main east-west route through country had been cut off

Russians March Into Georgia As Full-scale War Looms
Kremlin forces seize control of several towns as Georgia pulls back troops to defend Tbilisi

Russia Has Taken Over Half the Country, Georgia Claims
Russian military advance southwards and seize Kutaisy and Senaki

Moscow Accused of Planning Invasion But Remains Deaf to Critics
Rising panic as western leaders interrupt holidays to respond to crisis

Exodus Gathers Pace As the Funerals Begin
Bus loads of refugees from the conflict in South Ossetia continue to flow into Russia

Russia Says Conflict With Georgia Over South Ossetia Nearly Over
Russian president remains defiant over Moscow's military action in face of widespread condemnation

This is No Pipeline War But an Assault on Russian Influence
Georgia is key transit country for oil to travel from Baku in Azerbaijan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan

Russia Brushes Aside Ceasefire Calls After Georgia Withdraws
Putin in charge as flood of South Ossetian refugees grows

US Condemns 'dangerous' Russian Response in South Ossetia
American official calls Moscow's military action against Georgia 'disproportionate' and warns of lasting damage to relations

Russia Takes Control of South Ossetian Capital After Georgian Retreat
'Horrifying' humanitarian crisis left in Tskhinvali, and fighting continues despite Georgian ceasefire offer

Russia Widens Attacks As World Pleads for Peace in South Ossetia
Moscow targets Georgian towns while UN heads frantic bid to contain war in Caucasus

Russian Tanks Roll Into Georgia As Cities Burn
Hundreds of bodies lie in the streets of war-torn Caucasus towns as a dispute over the sovereignty of a tiny enclave escalates

Russia Claims Control of South Ossetian Capital
Air strikes deep inside Georgia as Moscow claims 1,500 people have died in heavy fighting over separatist region

Russian Troops and Tanks Pour Into South Ossetia
Russia and Georgia effectively at war after festering conflict in the Caucasus plunges out of control

Feuding Leaves Bp's Russian Venture Facing Debt Rating Reduction
TNK-BP's debt rating could be cut as a result of the feud between the oil company and its Russian partners

Analysis: Georgia's Decision to Shell Tskhinvali Could Prove 'reckless'
President timed action to coincide with Olympics, says academic

Russia Volunteers Poised to Join Battle for Separatists' Capital Tskhinvali
Armed Cossacks ready to cross border and fight against Georgian forces

Dangerous Proxy War Gains an International Dimension
It has always been hard to work out who started any of the many conflicts that have broken out in the Caucasus

Armed Cossacks Pour in to Fight Georgians
Volunteer fighters from Russia mobilize to enter conflict in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia

BP's Russian Venture Rocked By Financial Chief's Resignation
The turmoil at the top of BP's Russian joint venture intensified today when James Owen, the chief financial officer at TNK-BP, resigned without warning

Oil: Bp Boss Joins Russians for Prague Peace Talks Over Joint Venture
Meeting between opposing factions signals thaw in relations as president condemns corruption in business

The Bear is Back
Simon Tisdall: When Russia unveiled its military plans this week, the need for a coherent European defence system could not have been clearer

Russia's Diving Record Attempt Ends in Farce
Scientists forced to withdraw claims that they had set a new underwater record

Russian Oil: Moscow Insists Tnk-bp Boss Need Not Fear Prosecution
Dispute between oil company and its partner over how joint venture should be run could be decided in courts

Battle for Tnk-bp Turns Into All-out War
A highly public and personal campaign is being waged over control of the Russian oil giant, says Tim Webb

Russians Claim Control of Tnk-bp As Court Battle Looms
Russian shareholders at war with BP claim to have seized majority control of core board of joint venture TNK-BP

The Retreat From Moscow
Analysts suspect BP's Russian venture is a sinking dream and even question firm's vulnerability to takeover

Russia 'may Use Cuba to Refuel Nuclear Bombers'
Military source claims plan is response to US missile shield but Kremlin denies building new bases

Oil: 'harassed' Head of Bp Venture Exits Moscow
Robert Dudley says working conditions 'intolerable' and 'orchestrated campaign' left him unable to perform duties

Russia Contemplates Using Cuba to Refuel Nuclear Bombers
Russia denies reports in Kremlin mouthpiece· Talk highlights Russian anger at US missile defence

Bears Eat Two Men in Russia's Eastern Wilderness
Group of geologists left too scared to return to work due to presence of 30 bears starved by human overfishing

Bears Eat Two Workers in Remote Russian Region
About 400 geologists and miners are now refusing to return to work, afraid of further attacks

Oil: Bp's Russian Venture Put in Doubt After Staff Are Pulled Out
Oil analysts in Moscow said it was difficult to tell whether the retreat on staff deployments was the beginning of the end for BP in Russia

BP-TNK Partners Clash Over Dividend Cut
Russians try to oust BP chief, Robert Dudley, over cash retained by joint venture

Oil: Visa Reprieve for Head of Bp's Russia Venture
Executive at the heart of a bitter shareholder row has been granted a 10-day extension to his visa

Oil: Managers File Lawsuit Against Head of Bp's Russia Venture
Company 'torn apart' by dispute over Robert Dudley's continued employment as chief executive

Russia: Medvedev's Missiles Hard Line Dismays West
New president launches outspoken attack on Bush administration's plans to build defence shield in Europe

Medvedev Renews Tensions With Us Over Missile Shield
Russia's new president, Dmitry Medvedev, today launched an outspoken attack on America's European missile defence plans, in the latest sign that his policy towards the west is identical to that of his hawkish predecessor, Vladimir Putin

Iranian Rockets Too Short-range to Justify Missile Shield, Russia Says
Iranian threat an 'invented' justification for US missile defence in eastern Europe, according to Russia

British Trade Official Accused of Espionage By Russians
Britain and Russia faced fresh diplomatic confrontation last night after a British diplomat was accused of spying. By Julian Borger

Ambassador Accuses British Media of Anti-russia Campaign
Yuri Fedotov singles out BBC's Newsnight for alleging 'state involvement' in Alexander Litvinenko's death

Russia Admits Flying Jets Over Breakaway Georgian Republic
Russia admits flights over South Ossetia, saying it believed Tbilisi was preparing to attack the rebel republic

Russia Warns of Retaliation After Prague Signs Us 'star Wars' Pact
Czechs to host radar but Poles want Patriot missiles· Russians 'extremely upset' and considering retaliation

Russians Up the Ante in Row Over Bp Oil Venture
BP's Russian joint venture partners are poised to take legal action against TNK-BP chief executive

Litvinenko Associate Granted Asylum By Britain
Moscow angered by Home Office ruling that Andrei Sidelnikov, who met murdered spy two days before his poisoning, faces danger if sent back to Russia

'I'm a Young President, Don't Try to Label Me'
New Russian president Dimitry Medvedev talks Kosovo, Iran and the need for 'new economic mechanisms'

Oligarchs Call for Tnk-bp's Chief's Head
Russian oligarchs spelled out their determination to take control of the TNK-BP joint venture today as they called for an EGM at which they will demand that chief executive Bob Dudley is removed from his post

Russians Move to End Rift With Uk
New president, Dmitry Medvedev, signals desire to draw a line under Putin years prior to G8 summit

Oil: Bp Edged Further Out of Russia After Visas Are Refused
BP's Russian partners thought to have used state resources to block visas for all TNK-BP international staff

Russia: Skinhead Gang Accused of Killing 20 in Moscow
Gang targeted victims from post-Soviet republics who were working and studying in Moscow

Russians Are Menacing to Bp, Says Mandelson
Dispute between BP and Russian shareholders over oil company raises fears about international investment in Russia

EU-Russia Cooperation Talks Begin
The EU today began negotiations with Russia over an ambitious new strategic pact designed to rebuild relations between Europe and Russia following years of tension

Russia After Putin
Allison Gill: The EU should make the most of its first meeting with Dmitri Medvedev, and encourage him to be his own man

Raiders of the Russian Billions
Successful companies are bankrupted, sold off and their staff sacked after financial attacks by gangs who seem above the law

BP's Russian Venture in Trouble Again
Moscow prosecutors say TNK-BP has violated local labor laws

Russia Accuses Bp of Breaking Labour Laws
Trade union argues that TNK-BP gives preferential treatment to foreign specialists while discriminating against Russian staff

Call to Remove Name of Tsar's Killer From District
90 years after the tsar's killing, Russia's orthodox church has called for the man who killed the tsar, Piotr Voikov, to be brought to account

Four Charged Over Killing of Politkovskaya
Colleagues of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya have expressed skepticism at the latest development in the investigation> By Luke Harding in Moscow

Anna Politkovskaya: Four Charged Over Russian Journalist's Murder
Russian investigators today charged four men in connection with the murder of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, adding that the preliminary inquiry into her death was now "over"

Russia Sends 'punitive' Tax Bill to British Council
Kremlin admits campaign against the government-funded body linked to row over murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko

British Council to Challenge 'incorrect' Russian Tax Bill
Financial demand is latest in series of hostile moves by Russia against cultural organization

BP Ups Stakes By Accusing Putin of Failing to Stop Hijack By Oligarchs
Chairman claims Russia's leadership should intervene in power struggle over country's third-largest oil producer

BP's Russian Partners Pour Oil on the Flames
Viewpoint: BP was acutely aware of what it was taking on when it formed the joint venture

BP Accused of Arrogance and Incompetence By Oligarch Partner in Joint Russian Venture
Inflammatory comments suggest no reconciliation as chief's statements compared with 'Goebbels propaganda'

Elite's Villas Blight Village That Inspired Dr Zhivago
Housing estate for Moscow's super-rich to be built in village where author Boris Pasternak lived

Blacklisted: the Man Who Asked Awkward Questions
Head of Hermitage barred from entering Russia in 2005 after calling for higher standards of corporate governance at Gazprom

Kremlin Leaves Bp Shaken, But It Won't Stir
Amid Bond-style scheming, Russia is muscling in on oil company TNK-BP, a joint venture set up in 2003

Chief Executive Grilled in Russian Siege of Bp
Another problem for oil company's joint venture as billionaire shareholders 'trying to get a bigger offer'

The Russian Language
An introduction to the evolution of modern day Russian.

Moscow Diary
Luke Harding: Far-right MP upset after British academic compares Russian president to Winnie the Pooh

Russian Billionaires Fall Out With Bp
Shareholders argue TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil producer, should be able to expand abroad

EU Ministers Back Plan for Talks to Rebuild Relationship With Russia
After years of worsening tension, Brussels launches attempt to reach pact with new Kremlin leadership

Tensions Rise As Un Says Russian Air Force Downed Georgian Drone
Moscow denies report claims that it is giving military aid to Abkhazia, a separatist Black Sea region

Moscow Diary
Luke Harding: Terry Wogan's remarks that Russia cheated their way to victory in Eurovision have gone down badly

A New Cold War? We're Yet to Adjust to the Old One Ending
Jonathan Steele: Bad-tempered relations between Russia and the EU cannot be allowed to stymie a new partnership deal: both sides need it

Moscow's Plan to Avert Manchester-style Chaos
6,000 Russian officers will patrol football final, with ban on public drinking and absence of outdoor TV screens

Russia Rolls Out the Big Guns for V-day Parade
It has been 17 years since T-90 battle tanks last rolled across the cobbles of Moscow's Red Square. But today they were back in an unmistakable roar of diesel fumes, trundling past Lenin's tomb and the fantastic domes of St Basil's Cathedral

Big Guns Roll Through Red Square Once More
For the first time since cold war the Kremlin shows off its heavy weaponry, reviving a practice that fell into disuse in the democratic 1990s

Medvedev Sworn in As Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev becomes Russia's new president and third post-Soviet leader during glittering ceremony at the Kremlin

Plus ça Change
Leader: Inauguration ceremony of Russia's third president demonstrates that Putin intends to hold the reins

Russian Moves Inflame Tensions With Georgia
Rapid build-up of troops in Abkhazia threatens Georgia's territorial integrity, Nato warns

Russia's New Rich Help British Luxury Cars Drive Out the Venerable Zil
Love of English style opens up UK's third biggest vehicle market

Russia Accuses Georgia of Plans to Invade Breakaway Region
Tensions between Russia and Georgia increase as Moscow accuses Tbilisi of planning to invade the breakaway republic of Abkhazia

Fears Over Russian Plan for 'gas Opec'
Representatives of world's leading gas producers discuss Russian proposals for greater cooperation

Russia Poised for Alitalia Talks
Berlusconi looks to Putin to rescue troubled airline following Air France-KLM's bid withdrawal

Abramovich Loses Crown As Russia's Billionaires Multiply
Russia now boasts more billionaires than any other country apart from the US, a new survey shows

Former Kgb Defector Claims He Was Poisoned By Russians
Police investigating alleged attempt to kill Oleg Gordievsky who spied on Russia for British intelligence

Missile Defence Deal May Avert Crisis in Us-russia Relations
Moscow's proposals could ease heightened tensions Sunday's summit to focus on 'strategic framework'

Medvedev Warns Against Nato Admission for Russian Neighbours
Nato membership for Ukraine and Georgia could threaten European security and undermine attempts to improve transatlantic relations, the Russian president-elect warned today

Russian Head of British Council Group Arrested
Moscow arrests Russian national with links to the British Council and accuses him of spying

Russia Arrests Two Men in British Council Spying Row
Federal Security Service says president of council's alumnus club was engaged in espionage for foreign oil companies

Anglo-Russian Relations
Ros Taylor details key events before and after the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Russia's Priests Told to Carry Guns to Foil Armed Icon-raiders
Unguarded churches close to Moscow offer easy target and rich pickings for criminals

Climate Change May Spark Conflict With Russia, Eu Told
Alert over scramble for control of energy resources in the Arctic

EU Concerned As Russia Cuts Gas to Ukraine
Germany and central Europe brace themselves for cuts in supplies as Medvedev steps up dispute

Putin Urges Russians to Vote
Televised address comes despite almost certain victory for president's chosen successor

Q&A: the Russian Presidential Election
Tom Parfitt on the personalities, the issues and the implications of Russia's presidential election

Russia Shuts University That Displeased Putin
Kremlin accused of mounting unprecedented attack on academic freedom after top Russian university closed

EU Gas Supplies at Risk If Ukraine Does Not Settle Bill With Russia
Gas supplies to the EU could be at risk again next week after a warning from Russia that it would reduce the supply to Ukraine on Monday unless Kiev settled its debts

Monitors to Boycott Russian Election in Row Over Restrictions
Russia and the EU were today embroiled in another major row after the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) said that it would not monitor next month's presidential elections in Russia because of "severe restrictions" placed on it by Moscow.

Russia's Man Says It All
Simon Hoggart: I always enjoy the Whitehall mandarins who speak "British", a dialect of English which is almost comprehensible but manages to obscure nearly every topic it touches

Russia Seeks Extradition of Shipping Magnate in Uk
Oligarch accused of £250m tanker deals fraud· Demand may worsen crisis in diplomatic relations

Russia Seeks Extradition of Shipping Magnate in Uk
Oligarch accused of £250m tanker deals fraud· Demand may worsen crisis in diplomatic relations

Kosova or how Russia will be the loser…
The best choice for Russia would be to close a deal of mutual international recognition for Kosova and Transnistria, and do all it can to keep peace in Europe.

Russia's Most Notorious Mafia Boss Arrested in Moscow
Detectives confirm arrest of man wanted by both US and Britain for alleged involvement in decades of international crime

Russians Arrest Alleged Mafia Boss By Accident
Man on tax charge turns out to be 'The Brainy Don' Mogilevich said to have amassed $100m fortune

Russia's Next President Calls for Crackdown on Official Corruption
Russia's future president, Dmitry Medvedev, yesterday began his election campaign by acknowledging that Russia was in the grip of rampant corruption and what he termed 'legal nihilism'

Russian Collectors' Heirs Want Compensation for Lost Art
Two men who claim to be the rightful owners of some of Europe's most admired paintings - which will go on display in London today - have said they will not make any legal ownership claims but believe they deserve financial compensation

Why Russia always failed in the Middle East
For too long, Russians projected in the Middle East concepts elaborated for the vast Russian / Soviet territory; this cannot work further, as it only damages Russian interests from Mauritania to Oman, and from Syria to Somalia.

UK Could Block Trade Deal for Russia After British Council Row
'KGB tactics' threaten EU partnership agreement· Miliband wades into crisis over staff intimidation

Russia Detains British Council Director
The row between Russia and Britain over the fate of the British Council escalated today when the council confirmed that one of its senior British staff members had been arrested.

British Council Row Escalates As Russia Arrests Director
One of British Council's senior members - the son of Neil Kinnock - arrested in St Petersburg

'Now We Really Have a Crisis' - Russia's Man in London Leaving the Foreign Office Yesterday
Security services harass British Council staff · Kinnock's son held on suspicion of drink-driving

UK Defies Russian Order to Shut British Council Offices
Russia and Britain were last night locked in a standoff over the future of the British Council after Britain defied an order from the Kremlin to close down the council's regional offices

UK Defies Russian Order to Shut Cultural Offices
Russia and Britain locked in standoff over the future of the British Council after Britain defies a Kremlin order to close the Council's regional offices

Russia, Turkey, America, and the Apostate Freemasonic Anglo-French Elite
American Democrats and Republicans should foster a triple American – Russian – Turkish alliance to ensure peace in the world, democracy and secular society in the Middle East, low Oil prices for the entire world, and nation-building process for numerous oppressed African nations.

Russia Gives Go-ahead for £1bn Art Show Loans
Russian government says it will loan paintings from its museums for a major exhibition in London, after Britain fast-tracked legislation to protect art from seizure

Russia Threatens Academy's £1bn Art Show
The Royal Academy in London was last night struggling to save its blockbuster exhibition of Russian and French masterpieces, due to open in only a few weeks, after Russia withdrew its loans of the paintings

Russia Calls Off Major Art Loan As Ties With Uk Worsen
Moscow calls off planned show of art masterpieces at Royal Academy in London as relations chill

Russia Tells British Council to Shut Offices
Kremlin orders British Council to shut down offices outside Moscow within weeks

Russia Orders British Council Offices to Be Shut Down
Cultural mission accused of operating illegally· Minister admits closure linked to Litvinenko affair

Transnistria: Key to EU-Russian Concord and Kosova’s Formal Independence
A EU – Russian compromise around Kosova and Transnistria. Europe getting Russia’s agreement for Kosova’s formal recognition, should consent to Transnistria’s formal independence.

Warships Head to Mediterranean in Russian Show of Strength
Russia has dispatched an 11-ship aircraft carrier group to the Mediterranean Sea as a first step towards re-establishing a naval presence in the region

Russia, Islam, and the West
Allying themselves with Turkey and Iran, Russia and China herald by now the end of the UK – French – US presence in the Middle East.

Q&A: The Russian Electoral System
On Sunday Russia held elections to the State Duma lower house of parliament. Tom Parfitt explains how it worked

Q&A: The Russian Electoral System
On Sunday Russia holds elections to the State Duma lower house of parliament. Tom Parfitt explains how it works

Kosovo's Formal Independence, Europe and Russia
Europe will defeat Russia in Kosovo; or sooner or later Europe will be defeated.

Monitors to Miss Russian Poll After Moscow Fails to Give Visas
OCSE forced to pull out as papers go unprocessed· Decision raises doubts about legitimacy of vote

Sect Members Wait in Russian Cave for World to End
Children among 29 barricaded inside refuge· Believers threaten to blow themselves up

Russian Doomsday Sect Threatens Mass Suicide
More than 30 members of a Christian doomsday cult have barricaded themselves inside a remote cave in central Russia to await the end of the world, local officials said today

Hundreds of Dying Birds Are First Victims of Russian Tanker Leak
Hundreds of dying birds, covered in oil, were washed up close to where a Russian tanker broke up on Sunday in heavy seas

European Election Observer Attacks Russian Poll Rules
Watchdog unhappy with Kremlin's TV coverage· Almost all democratic parties barred from vote

Georgia Blames Russian Spies for Inciting Political Dissent
Tension between Georgia and Russia worsened today as the Georgian president accused Russian spies of whipping-up unrest among the political opposition.

Russia Seeks Its Place in the Sun
World briefing: Toying with military bases in Syria is just part of a bigger, bolder bid by Russia to challenge US regional and global leadership, writes Simon Tisdall.

Bomb on Russian Bus Kills Eight and Injures 56
Eight people were killed and 56 injured in Russia yesterday when a bomb exploded on a bus during rush hour.

Bus Bomb Kills Eight in Russian City of Tolyatti
Eight people were killed and 56 injured in the Russian city of Tolyatti today when a bomb exploded on a passenger bus during rush hour.

Russia Snubs Eu As Foreign Monitors at Elections Limited
Russia is heading for another showdown with the EU after failing to invite international election observers to monitor the country's parliamentary elections in December.

No Paris Trip for Russia's Kissing Policemen
Artwork inspired by Banksy is among 16 banned from show by culture minister.

The Sino-russian Embrace Leaves the Us Out in the Cold
Jonathan Steele: Moscow and Beijing are closer now than in the Communist period. An anxious America is left struggling to be heard.

Bribery, Blackmail and Bond-style Gadgets. What the Fsb Says Britain is Up to in Russia
The head of Russia's FSB spy agency yesterday accused Britain and MI6 of leading a campaign to destabilize the country, and said that British agents were using old-fashioned techniques such as "bribery and blackmail" to recruit Russian citizens.

Utopia With No Poor People: Moscow's New Billionaire's Row
Developer builds estate for Russia's emerging elite - and sets his own eccentric rules.

Great Terror Returns to Haunt Russia As 34 Skeletons Discovered in Cellar
Remains may be victims of Stalin's purges, say police · Rusty pistol also unearthed in aristocratic mansion

Russia Issues Gas Ultimatum to Ukraine
Russia threatened yesterday to cut gas supplies to Ukraine again in a move that appears to reflect its displeasure at the prospect of a new orange government in Kiev.

As Burmese Troops Open Fire at Monks, China and Russia Block Global Sanctions
Monks pledge to intensify action but UN can only agree on watered-down security council statement.

Move Over Tolstoy: Detective Tales of Tsarist Era Take Russia By Storm
Author who spotted a gap in the market sells millions of novels to country's emerging middle class.

Russian Oligarch Halts Auction to Buy Complete Rostropovich Art Collection
· Billionaire pays over £25m to take treasures home · Usmanov coup follows major Arsenal investment

Russia Unveils the 'father of All Bombs'
Russia's military yesterday announced that it had successfully tested a lethal new air-delivered bomb, which it described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear weapon.

UK Jets Scrambled to Intercept Russian Aircraft
Four Tornado F3 fighters launched to head off eight reconnaissance aircraft in second such incident in recent weeks.

Skyscraper May See St Petersburg Lose World Heritage Status
· Planned building almost as tall as Eiffel Tower · Governor currying favor with Putin, say critics

Chechen Mafia and Rogue Officials Blamed As Russia Arrests 10 for Journalist's Murder
· Politkovskaya plot begun abroad, says prosecutor· Berezovsky rejects any suggestion of involvement.

UK Oil Firms Cheating Investors, Says Russia
· Miners also accused of exaggerating reserves · Fears of renewed Kremlin attack on resources sector

Bones Found By Russian Builder Finally Solve Riddle of the Missing Romanovs
· Remains are believed to be those of tsar's children· Discovery in clearing is linked to 1918 shootings

Typhoons Scrambled to Intercept Russian Aircraft
In a sign of heightened tension between Russia and Nato, it emerged last night that two RAF Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft were scrambled for the first time to intercept a long-range Russian 'Bear' reconnaissance aircraft over the North Atlantic.

Russia Forces World Service Off Fm Radio
· BBC partner station told to halt broadcasts · Move linked to diplomat row with Britain

Russia Seeks Its Place in the Sun
World briefing: Toying with military bases in Syria is just part of a bigger, bolder bid by Russia to challenge US regional and global leadership, writes Simon Tisdall.

Student Arrested Over Russian Neo-nazi 'execution' Video
Russian police arrested a student today for posting a video on the internet which appears to show the execution-style killing by neo-Nazis of two migrant workers.

Georgia Accuses Russia of Bombing Village
· No one hurt but Tbilisi angry at 'act of aggression' · Moscow denies claim as relations dip further.

Georgia Accuses Russia of Air Attack
Georgia today accused its neighbor Russia of an 'act of aggression' after two Russian jet fighters allegedly crossed in to its airspace and dropped a bomb on a village close to its capital Tbilisi.

Russia Plants Flag on North Pole Seabed
Move symbolically stakes claim to billions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves in Arctic Ocean.

Russia Sends in Firefighters As Greek Minister Says Sorry for Losing the Battle Against 3,000 Forest Fires
Two giant water bombing aircraft from Russia yesterday weighed into the fight against scores of fires raging across Greece as Athens' conservative government, fending off claims of ineptitude, apologized for its handling of the disaster.

Russia Leads Race for North Pole Oil
The Arctic's untapped resources include huge reserves of fuel and minerals. Now Moscow has raised tensions by dispatching an expedition to annex a vast expanse of the ocean.

Russia Accused Over Spanish Spy
Russia's security services appeared to have got embroiled in a fresh row with a European country yesterday after Spain's intelligence service arrested an alleged double agent whom it accused of treason.

How Far Will Russia Go in Defence of Serbia's Rights in Kosovo?
World Briefing: Exactly how far Russia will go in defence of Serbia's rights in Kosovo is a question of pressing importance, now UN security council negotiations to agree conditional independence for the breakaway province have ground to an ignominious halt, writes Simon Tisdall.

Russia Keen to Restore Normal Relations
Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said yesterday that Moscow wanted to bring its relations with London back to normal following the damaging tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats this week.

Kosovo to Declare Independence Despite Russian Opposition
The government of the contested Balkan province of Kosovo yesterday said it would issue a unilateral declaration of independence within months in exasperation at western capitulation to a Russian veto threat in the UN security council.

Russia Accuses Us Journal of Censorship
Foreign Affairs 'inserted references to cold war' - Editor says minister given chance to make changes

Anglo-Russian Crisis Looms Over Litvinenko Case
The diplomatic row over the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi could see tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats and withdrawal of British cooperation in key areas.

Britain and Russia on the Brink of Diplomatic Crisis
Possibility of expulsions and tit-for-tat reprisals - Miliband weighs options in murder suspect row

Russia Dismisses Kosovo Statehood Without Serb Agreement
Foreign minister indicates UN security council veto unless resolution is supported by 'both sides'

Russia Declassifies Files on Victims of Stalinist Purges
Files on millions of victims of Stalinist repression, including those who perished in the Soviet Union's infamous gulags, have been declassified, Russia's federal security service announced today.

Olympics: Russian Resort Gets Winter Olympics Nod
Politics of sport: The Black Sea resort of Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympics after winning an IOC vote last night.

Russia Issues New Missile Defence Threat
Russia warned today that it would position its rockets close to the Polish border and point missiles at US bases in Europe if Washington rebuffed its latest offer of cooperation on missile defence.

BP Retreats From Russia With £400m
BP yesterday caved in to months of pressure from the Kremlin and agreed to sell its stake in the Kovykta gas field to Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas company.

Bears Starve As Poachers Pillage Russia's Wealth of Salmon
Remote Kamchatka faces ecological meltdown as fish stocks are obliterated.

Cologne and Antiseptic: Russia's Killer Drinks
Study reveals soaring toll among working-age men - Jobless alcoholics turn to cheap substitutes

West 'fearful' of Russia, Says Exasperated Blair
Talks with Putin were frank but fruitless - 'Real issues' will not be resolved easily or soon

Durak: How to Play this Russian Card Game
Ever heard of Durak? No. then, enter, read and learn how to play Durak, the most popular card game in Russia, with this clear explanation of the game and its rules.

Blair Tries to Defuse Tension With Russia Over Us Missiles
On the eve of his 11th and final G8 meeting, the prime minister says Kremlin should not feel threatened by nuclear shield.

Bush Invites Russian Generals to Inspect Pentagon's Central European Project
George Bush intervened yesterday in the worst dispute between Russia and the west since the end of the cold war, offering to cooperate with Vladimir Putin on the Pentagon's missile defence project.

Russia Has Nothing to Fear Over Missile Shield, Bush Says
Russia should not fear a missile shield in Eastern Europe, George Bush said today in his latest bid to placate Vladimir Putin, who has threatened to aim missiles at western countries in retaliation.

Russian Ban on Body Parts Exports Hits Drug Testing Firm
The Russian government has cited fears of bioterrorism for a sudden decision to ban the export of body parts and human tissues.

The New Cold War: Russia's Missiles to Target Europe
Kremlin warning on eve of G8 as gulf widens over US defence shield plans.

Russian Minister Hits Out at Uk
Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, yesterday accused Britain of using the Litvinenko case to wage a political campaign and said the affair had damaged relations between London and Moscow.

New Russian Missile 'can Break Any Missile Shield'
Russia today tested a new missile that it claimed could penetrate any missile shield. Mark Tran reports.

Russian Missile Test Adds to Arms Race Fears
Russia yesterday threatened a new cold war-style arms race with the United States by announcing that it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile capable of penetrating American defenses.

Senior Uk Diplomat Beaten Up After Campaign of Russian Harassment
Siberian assault follows bid to intimidate envoy - Livingstone plea to mayor of Moscow on gay parades

From Russia With Hate: Senior Diplomat Becomes Latest Briton to Fall Foul of Thugs
Siberia assault follows harassment of ambassador - Livingstone plea to mayor of Moscow on gay parades

Press Repression in Russia and Turkey Growing
Bleak reports on press freedom in Russia and Turkey were given to a meeting yesterday. By Alan Rusbridger.

EU Voices Concern Over Russian Opposition Arrests
Chess grandmaster and opposition leader stopped from boarding plane as he travelled to rally against Putin regime.

'Don't Try to Divide Us,' Eu Warns Russia As Summit Ends in Disarray
The summit between the European Union and Russia ended in acrimonious disaster yesterday with no new deals signed and a stark warning to Russia that it should not try to divide the EU bloc.

EU-Russia Summit in Danger of Unravelling
Germany's hopes of striking a new grand bargain between Russia and Europe that would lock both into a close embrace for years to come have been dashed ahead of a crucial summit.

Russia to Build Atomic Plant for Burmese Junta
Deal is likely to worsen US ties with Moscow - UN inspection agency says it has not been informed

Russia Accused of Unleashing Cyberwar to Disable Estonia
A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm.

Russian Capital's Architectural Gems Bulldozed
1,000 historic buildings destroyed, experts warn - Ghettos for rich replace city's unique heritage

Travelling 'dj' Cons Russian Press
For months Rustam Dzhumaliyev, 23, hitched across Russia, posing as a DJ from Los Angeles who was trying to get into the record books by traversing the country from east to west. But the hoax collapsed last week when Dzhumaliyev was exposed as a fugitive robber from a village near Vladivostok.

Russians Braced for Ruling Elite to 'fiddle' Parliamentary Election
Almost half of Russia's voters expect that the parliamentary election this year will be falsified by the ruling elite and defy the will of the people, a new poll indicates.

EU Protests Over Russian Attacks on Ambassadors
Dispute over Estonian monuments widens - Summit threatened after assaults by Putin loyalists

Poles Demand Missile Shield Against Russia
European nations increase pressure on Americans - Czech Republic want legal guarantee over bases

17 Russians Die in Chechen Military Helicopter Crash
Russian officials say there were no survivors after a troop-carrying helicopter was shot down in the deadliest single attack for over a year by Chechen insurgents.

Russia Up in Arms After Estonians Remove Statue of Soviet Soldier
Russia threatened yesterday to sever diplomatic relations with Estonia after a statue to a Red Army Soviet soldier was removed from the capital, Tallinn, following rioting in which one man died.

Russia Mourns Rostropovich: Cellist, Conductor, Campaigner
Musician dies at 80 after long fight with cancer - Putin leads tributes for artist exiled under Stalin

Russia Enraged As Estonia Takes Down Soviet War Memorial
Tallin statue removed following major protests in which one person died.

Russian Soldiers Jump Bail in Chechen Massacre Case
Three special forces servicemen who were being prosecuted for massacring a group of Chechen civilians in one of Russia's highest profile criminal trials have gone on the run days before proceedings were expected to draw to a close.

Diplomatic Rift As Russia Says: Give Us Berezovsky
Relations between London and Moscow threatened to plummet to a post-cold war low yesterday amid renewed Russian demands for action against Boris Berezovsky over the tycoon's claim that he is plotting to overthrow Vladimir Putin.

Hand Over Berezovsky, Russia Tells Uk
The Russian prosecutor general today asked Britain to hand over Boris Berezovsky for prosecution.

Berlin's Jews Face Split After Dispute Over Russian Influx
Traditionalists' disquiet prompts breakaway - Accusation of Stalinism levelled at newcomers

UK Police Investigate Tycoon's Russian Coup Claims
Scotland Yard launches inquiry into Russian multi-millionaire Boris Berezovsky after he disclosed to the Guardian that he was plotting a "revolution" to overthrow President Putin.

Police Probe Exile's Claims About Russian 'revolution'
Police in Britain and Russia launched inquiries into the multimillionaire Boris Berezovsky after he disclosed he was plotting to overthrow President Vladimir Putin.

From Russia, With Love for the More Exclusive Side of London Life
In our final report on Russia's growing financial muscle at home and abroad, we look at the influx of the super-rich into Britain and how they are making an impression on the capital.

'I Am Plotting a New Russian Revolution'
London exile Berezovsky says force necessary to bring down President Putin.

Russia's Power Play in Europe
In the second of three reports looking at Russia's growing financial muscle at home and abroad, we focus on Gazprom, its biggest company, and to many in the west a tool of the Kremlin's expansionist ambitions.

Russia Has 2.3m Alcoholics
Russians' consumption of alcohol has tripled since the fall of the Soviet Union, with the average person now knocking back the equivalent of 34 litres of vodka a year, new figures show.

Russia Threatening New Cold War Over Missile Defence
Kremlin accuses US of deception on east European interceptor bases.

Russia and Poland in Bitter Row Over Nationality of Auschwitz's Victims
Shadow of Hitler-Stalin pact across exhibition - Anger at Estonia's plan to raze Red Army memorial

Russia's Rival to Us Satnav on the Horizon
It has been the source of frustration, enlightenment and missed turnings for millions of drivers across the world.

UK Man Feared Among Russian Mine Blast Dead
A British consultant is feared to be among the 97 victims of Russia's worst mining accident in a decade, it was reported today.

Russian Mine Blast Kills 71
At least 71 Russian coal miners were killed today in a methane gas explosion, and fears were growing for those still trapped underground.

Russia Tightens Grip on Eu Energy Supply
Putin signs deal for oil pipeline to Greece - Concerns increased over dependency on Moscow

Russia Joins West in Turning Sanctions Screw on Iran
Russia joined the west in stepping up the pressure on Iran yesterday over its suspect nuclear programme by agreeing to tighten UN sanctions on the Islamic regime, a day after announcing a delay in the supply of nuclear fuel to it.

Russian Wealth Gap: 53 Billionaires But Poor Worse-off
Petro-dollars fail to trickle down to pensioners, jobless and government workers.

A Decaying Russia
Russia is a country in decay! It survives today on the infrastructure that was set-up during the heyday of communism and before glasnost was liberally sprinkled around.

Russia Displays Looted German Treasure
Exhibition fails to end row over ownership of stolen artefacts.

Russian Party Cries Foul After Being Excluded From Election
Voters went to the polls in 14 of Russia's 86 regions yesterday amid claims that some opposition parties were deliberately marginalised from the elections.

Did He Jump or Was He Pushed? Russian Journalists Fear Worst After Another Death
Safety fears heightened by mystery plunge of man known for damaging scoops.

Russian Journalist 'sacked' for Speaking About Police Brutality
A Russian journalist was sacked from a state-controlled radio station because she gave an interview to independent media about police brutality at an anti-Kremlin opposition march, it was claimed today.

Russian Generals Put Old Foe Back Into Their Sights
Russia is to replace its military doctrine with a more hawkish version that boldly identifies Nato and the west as its greatest danger.

Russian Journalist Who Angered Country's Military Falls to Death
Colleagues scorn claims of suicide from flat window - He exposed failure of new intercontinental missile

The Russian Mentality
In Russia, whether it is a simple task of having a washing machine installed at home or a rather more complex matter of drilling for oil offshore in -35 degree temperatures the amount of paperwork and bureaucracy that hounds the proceedings is immense.

Prosecutors Target Russian Clinic Testing British Firm's Mmr Vaccine
Russian prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into a clinic after unsubstantiated allegations that a vaccine made by the British drugs company GlaxoSmithKline has had disturbing side effects in a clinical trial.

Russia Hits Back Over Us Claim of Retreat From Democracy
Putin ready to fix election, intelligence chief claims - Senate testimony stirs fears of new arms race

Russian Women Tourists Shot Dead on Beach in Thailand
Detectives were yesterday investigating the murder of two young Russian women tourists whose bodies were found slumped in deckchairs at a beach resort in Thailand.

Interview: Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Deripaska talks money, Moscow and his friend Abramovich.

Wildlife Puts Russian Games on Thin Ice
Winter Olympics at Sochi fall foul of WWF - Bobsleigh run would harm bears, campaigners claim

Russian Army Sold Recruits for Sex, Rights Group Claims
Russia's scandal-prone military was gripped by allegations yesterday that cash-strapped senior officers had forced young conscripts to work as male prostitutes.

Big Rise in Russian Military Spending Raises Fears of New Challenge to West
Moscow anxious over US missile defence plans - Hawkish minister outlines $189bn hardware revamp

Russian Veto Will Be Key
Yesterday's unveiling of the Kosovo independence plan sets the scene for months of diplomatic clashes at the United Nations between Russia and the west.

Patient Exposes 'gagging of Babies' in Russian Hospital
Russian prosecutors are investigating claims that hospital staff gagged babies with tape because they were fed up with hearing them cry.

Russian 'smuggled Weapons-grade Uranium'
The safety of Russia's vast nuclear arsenal was called into question today after Georgia announced it had arrested a man trying to sell weapons-grade uranium hidden under his jacket.

Russian Jailed for Trying to Sell Weapons-grade Uranium for $1m
The safety of Russia's vast nuclear arsenal was called into question yesterday after Georgia said it had arrested a man trying to sell weapons-grade uranium hidden under his jacket.

Rich Russians Ditch Vodka for 'aspirational Drinks'
Russia's long and boozy love affair with vodka appears to be drawing to an end, with figures showing that newly affluent Russians prefer to drink other types of alcohol.

Time Runs Out for Russians in Ice Chess Contest
Chess: The British team for the first Anglo-Russian Ice Chess Challenge match did not inspire confidence.

Russia Risks Losing Eu Contracts for Energy Supply
Stern warning for Moscow on future disruptions - Renewables could replace dependence on oil and gas.

Russian Billionaire Arrested in Alpine 'prostitution' Inquiry
Exclusive skiing resort shocked by police raid - No clear link found with sex ring, prosecution says

Global Warming Blamed As Russian Winter Fails to Materialise
The brick grotto where Moscow zoo's bears live was today finally devoid of snuffling. After weeks of insomnia caused by the record mild winter in Russia, the six bears that live in the craggy enclosure have at last nodded off. Russia's famous winters may have scuttled the invasion plans of both Napoleon Bonaparte and Hitler but this year the winter has spectacularly failed to materialise in Moscow.

Merkel Hits Out at Russian Oil Pipeline Closure
German chancellor joins EU in attacking Russia over its closure of pipeline supplying oil to Europe.

Russia Should Be Allowed to Escape the Cliches of Its Past
Britain has long cast Russia as a corrupt and destabilising state - because it disturbed the established imperial order. By Hywel Williams

$20bn Gas Project Seized By Russia
Russia seizes control of world's biggest liquefied gas project - Shell forced to give up controlling stake after pressure from Kremlin

Detectives Fly to Russia to Question Businessmen
Trio were among last to see Litvinenko alive - Lugovoi expected to talk to Scotland Yard

Revealed: Litvinenko's Russian 'blackmail Plot'
Poison victim 'had intelligence files' - FBI probe KGB agent over new claims

Baysarov Shooting: a Different Tale of Revenge From Russia
Tom Parfitt on the gunning down of a security services officer on a busy Moscow street.

Aides Claim Former Russian Pm Was Poisoned
Doctors believe the former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar, who fell badly ill after attending a conference in Ireland, has been deliberately poisoned, his spokesman said today.

Cold War Shadow Disrupts Russia Talks
An EU-Russia summit in Helsinki opened in disarray today after Poland blocked the start of talks on a new wide-ranging pact, taking in energy and human rights.

Russia Bans Thousands of Foreign Traders
Hundreds of thousands of people in Russia will lose their jobs after President Vladimir Putin approved plans to ban foreigners from trading at street stalls and markets.

Corrupt Bureaucrats Cost Russia £125bn a Year, Prosecutor Says
· Scale of backhanders close to state's entire revenues · Police discover 28,000 graft cases in eight months

Russia: Police Accused of Obstructing Arrest of Potential Suspect in Politkovskaya Murder
Police officers in a Siberian town are alleged to be obstructing the arrest of a former major on their force who is wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the Guardian has been told.

From Russia With Hate
An extreme nationalist movement is gearing up to march in Moscow in defiance of an official ban, writes Tom Parfitt.

Russia Set to Double Gas Prices for Georgia
Russia is likely to more than double the price of natural gas to Georgia in a fresh sign of disintegrating relations with the former Soviet state.

The Russians Are Coming - and Bringing the Threat of Scandal to the City
· Controversy over Rosneft fails to deter investors · Many in City are worried by the rush to float

Russia Opposes Draft Un Resolution on Iran
International attempts to forge a united front in the nuclear standoff with Iran today suffered a setback as Russia declared its opposition to current UN proposals.

EU and Russia - a Meeting of Minds?
EU leaders meet Vladimir Putin at an informal summit in chilly Finland today - and with energy security and Russia's behaviour in former Soviet states under scrutiny, diplomats are nervous. Nicholas Watt reports from Lahti.

Bureaucracy Forces Foreign Aid Groups to Stop Work in Russia
Scores of foreign humanitarian aid groups and charities which failed to meet a deadline for registration under a controversial new law must suspend their work in Russia from today.

Chess: Saga Ends in Russian Triumph
Millions watched on the internet as the world title was finally won by Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnick.

Georgians in Russia Live in Fear After Crackdown, Says Envoy
Georgia's ambassador to Moscow yesterday struck out at the Kremlin, saying Georgians living in Russia were 'hiding at home in fear' after a Kremlin-backed campaign of intimidation.

Russia: Don't Threaten Iran Over Nuclear Issue
Issuing ultimatums is counterproductive, Russia and China said today as key foreign ministers met in London to discuss Iran's refusal to suspend nuclear enrichment.

Struggle for Control of Resources is Backdrop to Tension in Russia and Africa
The struggle to wrest control of resources from western companies is the backdrop to tension in Russia and Africa.

Russia Escalates Georgia Row Despite Release of 'spies'
· Moscow cuts trade links vital for smaller neighbour · Putin warns Bush not to intervene in dispute

Georgia Releases Russian Officers
Four Russian officers at the centre of a tense diplomatic standoff between Russia and Georgia were today on their way back to Moscow in an attempt to defuse the crisis.

Russian Oil Grab 'puts Western Supplies at Risk'
A former government adviser has warned it is "only a matter of time" before BP or Shell faces a bid from a Russian state-owned group such as Gazprom which could threaten western oil supplies.

Russia Denies Ulterior Motives Over Sakhalin
A senior Russian official has hit back at western accusations that Moscow is deliberately raising environmental obstacles against Shell and other foreign companies as part of a political mission to seize back control of energy reserves.

The Buddhist Russian State of Kalmykia
Chess: Lawrence Booth on chess and Buddhism in the European state of Kalmykia

Mitsubishi Eyes Russia As New Plant’s Home
News from Russia’s business and tourist capital, St. Petersburg, say that Japanese auto maker Mitsubishi has had some of its top executives visiting the mentioned location. This was in fact backed up and confirmed by one of the major Mitsubishi distributors in Russia. The distributor said that the company is indeed planning on building an assembly plant in St. Petersburg.

Ford On Pace To Double Russian Sales
Ford Motor Company, pacing double sales in the Russian territory, has premiered a number of vehicles for its Russian customers. Said move is expected to intensify Ford’s standing as the leader in Russian automobile market.

Ding-dong Averted As Russia's Sacred Bells Head Home From Us
Seventeen Russian bells which hang in a Harvard University tower are destined to return to their spiritual home near Moscow after nearly 80 years in exile.

Hundreds of Chechens Forced to Flee Russian Town As Restaurant Brawl Erupts Into Race Riot
· Xenophobic groups use fight to urge ethnic attacks · Minorities targeted in internet campaign

Shoppers Threaten to Topple Father of Russian Literature
· Glitzy mall may replace fabled Pushkin square · Intelligentsia takes on business elite over plan

Russian Jet Crashes With 170 on Board
Up to 170 people are feared to have been killed when a Russian passenger jet crashed in Ukraine today.

Russian Spurns Most Coveted Maths Award
In a snub to the international maths community, a winner of the discipline's most coveted prize yesterday refused the award.

170 Die As Russian Plane is Struck By Lightning
· 45 children killed in third major accident this year · Crash raises questions over 'flying cigar'

Russia Complicates Ceasefire Consensus
Russia dramatically intervened in the struggle to reach a UN deal on Lebanon last night, tabling a proposal for a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire on the grounds the crisis was too desperate to wait on more wrangling between the US and France.

The $250 M Ford Russian Investment
The Ford Motor Company has decided on investing $250 million for production of new cars and vehicles in Russia. Ford would be investing the amount on the production and assembly of the Ford Mondeo and the Ford Maverick.

Russian Gets 13-year Sentence for Passing Secrets to Mi6
· Retired officer prosecuted for treason in closed trial · Post-cold war espionage 'exposed dozens of agents'

Moscow Blames Lonely Planet for Image Problems
Moscow officials have launched an attack on Lonely Planet, saying the backpackers' guide presents an image of the city that is at least 15 years out of date.

Russia Reignites Feud With Japan By Investing £350m in Disputed Islands
· Snub from Moscow stirs 500-year-old conflict · Dispute prevented signing of second world war treaty

Russia Bids to Seize Khodorkovsky Home
Russian authorities are planning to seize the family home of the jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, according to his wife.

Russian Prosecutors Move to Seize Oil Tycoon's Family Home
Russian authorities are planning to seize the family home of the jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, says his wife.

Russia Clamps Down on Dissent Ahead of G8
· Protester claims 200 held as Bush and Putin meet · Demonstrations expected today in St Petersburg

Russia's Rush for Gas Widens Gap Between Growing Wealth and Vanishing Tradition
In the far north, Vladimir Putin's plan to exploit Europe's energy hunger is opening a social divide.

At Least 122 Dead in Russian Air Crash
· Airbus 310 skids on runway and hits buildings · President Putin declares day of mourning

Russia Forces Us-funded Radio Services Off the Air
Two radio news services funded by the US government that broadcast across Russia and were often critical of the Kremlin have been largely taken off the air.

Cradle of Winemaking Refuses to Be Crushed By Russian Ban
The Georgian wine industry, thought to be the world's oldest, is reeling from Russia's blanket ban on exports of its wine to the country, which has traditionally bought 90% of its production.

Russian Tv Contest Selects Would-be Mps
In a country where state power can make you rich and famous, there is only one television competition prize guaranteed to get Russia's youth voting: a seat in parliament.

Oil-rich Russia Makes Rouble Convertible
The rouble is riding high on Moscow's burgeoning status as an energy superpower, and it's about to be unleashed on the world.

Russia Rejects 40 Foreign Ngos
Russian authorities have refused to grant legal status to 40 foreign non-governmental organisations which submitted paperwork to the justice ministry under stringent new legislation that requires them to re-register by October 18.

Russians Suffer Wine Drought
Russian wine lovers are facing a parched summer after a bureaucratic foul-up has left shelves empty in off-licences across the country.

Russian Drinkers Thirst for Foreign Wines
Russian wine lovers are facing a parched summer after a bureaucratic foul-up that has left shelves empty in off-licences across the country.

The Rise of the Russian Racists
St Petersburg police have snared a gang connected to a slew of race murders just before the city hosts the G8 summit. But it isn't an end to the problems, says Tom Parfitt.

New Nissan Manufacturing Plant In Russia Finalized
The Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. would be going ahead with its plans on building a new manufacturing plant in Russia, specifically in St. Petersburg. This new assembly and manufacturing plant would cost the company a whopping $200 million. The company foresees that come the year 2009, this plant would be functional and fully operational.

Hand of John the Baptist in Russia
John the Baptist's right hand, which Christians think baptised Jesus Christ, has returned to Russia for the first time in 89 years.

Russia Tells Ukraine to Stay Out of Nato
· Parliament warns of 'negative consequences' · Protests force US troops in Crimea to stay in barracks.

Roman Rebuilds His Russian Empire
Helped by his political clout, Chelsea's billionaire owner is buying a steel firm back home, and perhaps the UK's Corus, writes Oliver Morgan.

Russian 'sour Grapes' Embargo Leaves Georgian Wine Makers Counting the Cost
In the Kakheti region of eastern Georgia locals are smarting at Moscow's decision to ban all imports of wine from the country.

Arcelor Merges With Russian Steel Group in Final Snub to Mittal's €25bn Bid
· Putin backs biggest foreign commercial deal · Worries over valuations and lack of transparency

Russian Police Target Far Right
An elite undercover police unit is to be formed in St Petersburg to try to stop racist attacks on foreign students.

Many Russians So Rich They Need £100 Note
The latest sign of Russia's wealth explosion, the 5,000 rouble (£100) banknote, is to be unveiled by the central bank today.

The Russian Bear is Back - and This Time It's Gas-powered
· Petrodollars give Putin weight on world stage · America is 'nervous and angry', say observers

Russian Go-ahead for World Trek
A former paratrooper from Hull yesterday won his appeal against deportation from Russia, a month after he was arrested for illegally entering the country.

First Wine, Now Russia Bans Georgia's Water
Borjomi, with its relieving mix of minerals and salts, has been banned from Russian shops and restaurants - the latest victim in a trade war between the small Caucasus state and its giant neighbour.

Russia is Blackmailing Europe Over Energy, Says Cheney
· Putin using oil and gas to 'bully' neighbours · Kremlin dismisses speech as 'incomprehensible'

Moscow Contract for Edinburgh Firm
The architects who designed the expensive Scottish parliament building will build a lavish skyscraper in central Moscow, a city so awash with petrodollars that it should not balk at the cost.

'Russia Has Left the Western Orbit'
Missile deals with the 'axis of evil' are just the latest sign that Moscow is sick of kowtowing to the US and Europe, writes Tom Parfitt.

Two Gypsies Shot As Russian Race Attacks Continue
Police in Russia are investigating the murder of two Gypsies in the latest of a spate of violent attacks on foreigners and people from ethnic minorities.

Russia Ready to Buck the Trend
Russian MPs are considering banning the word dollar from official speech in a crude attempt to boost confidence in the rouble.

Russia Bans Imports of Alcohol From Neighbours
Russia has launched a 'wine war' on Georgia and Moldova in the latest sign of political sour grapes in the former Soviet Union.

Student Dies in Russia's Latest Racist Attack
An African student was shot dead in St Petersburg with a hunting rifle emblazoned with a swastika early yesterday in an apparently planned racist attack that has horrified Russia.

Migrant Workers Hammer Out Russian Revolution Paid for With Petrodollars
Landmarks are being demolished to make way for mayor's romantic vision of capital.

Girl Aged Nine Stabbed in Face As Russian Race Tension Spreads
A nine-year-old mixed-race girl has been beaten and stabbed in the face and neck in St Petersburg, officials said yesterday, only four days after a teenager was acquitted of the murder of another nine-year-old girl, from Tajikistan, in the city two years ago.

Russian Fury at Jailing of Man for Killing Speeding Politician
· Dead governor's driver was exceeding 90mph · Car owners rally behind convicted motorist

Color Revolutions Fade in Russia's Shadow
Alexander Lukashenko is going to unusual lengths to ensure the "right" result in Sunday's presidential election in Belarus. His anticipated triumph may mark a glum turning point for pro-democracy movements in the former Soviet sphere. By Simon Tisdall

Russia Casts Doubt on Postmortem Results As Serbs Argue Over Funeral Arrangements
· Belgrade may host his funeral but not state burial · Son demands protection for exiled family's return

Russian Student 'forced to Behead Man' in Kidnap Plot
· Court told film made to discredit witness · Discovery of headless corpses backed up story

Iran and Russia Reach Tenuous Deal on Nuclear Programmes
Iran and Russia signalled agreement yesterday on a joint uranium enrichment project aimed at reducing suspicions that Tehran is bent on building a nuclear bomb.

Russian Paper Closes After Publishing Cartoons
A second Russian newspaper has closed down after publishing the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that sparked worldwide demonstrations. By Julia Day.

Russia and Iran Hold Uranium Enrichment Talks
Iranian officials were today in Moscow for talks on Russia's offer to enrich uranium for Iranian use - a scenario that could dispel the crisis over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Russia Under Pressure to Guarantee Gas Supplies
· G7 ministers urge Moscow to ratify energy charter · Agreement could open up country to foreign oil firms

Russian Horror Flick Hopes to Challenge Hollywood
In a sign of the resurgence of the once mighty Russian film industry, a homegrown fantasy blockbuster will go on general release this week in America - a country once renowned for its resistance to all things Russian.

Russians Are Big Fans of English Hooligans
Moscow football thugs copy violent tactics - and shun the chav look.

Iran Threatens to Abandon Russian Compromise
A senior official in Tehran today threatened the abandonment of a Russian proposal aimed at mollifying concerns about Iran's uranium enrichment ambitions.

Russia's Gazprom Considers Bid for British Gas Owner Centrica
· Move by state-owned outfit alarms government · Takeover would give it 12m British gas customers

Russian Officer Hired Out Troops for Slave Labour
· Rocket commander fined and banned for three years · Concern grows over abuse and beating of conscripts

Georgian Leaders Turn Up the Heat on Russia As Gas Supplies Are Restored After Freezing Week
· Government distributes kerosene and firewood · Politicians accuse Moscow of targeting energy system

Russia 'seizes British Fake Rock Spies'
Former Kremlin security chief tells TV show two agents are in custody and talking to officials.

Russian Mps Briefed on British Spy Ring Allegations
The Russian parliament is to discuss spying allegations against four British diplomats who had allegedly channelled funds to NGOs in Russia.

Russia Reopens Gas Row By Accusing Ukraine of Syphoning Eu Supply
· Yushchenko and Putin discuss energy dispute · Beleaguered Kiev leader tries to regain popularity

Georgian Leader Attacks Russia After Gas Blasts
· Three explosions across border cut supplies · Kremlin accused of sabotage and blackmail

Russia in Grip of New Cold War
The schools are shut, traffic has ebbed and life has taken a more cautious pace over the sheet ice. There is little you can do but shuffle on, tape up your windows and buy a thicker hat. Temperatures in Moscow yesterday plunged to -28C.

Russia Urges Caution As Lobbying Begins on Iran's Nuclear Ambition
British, French and German diplomats began an intensive round of worldwide lobbying yesterday to try to maximise a vote on Iran in Vienna early next month over its suspect nuclear weapons programme.

Russian Orphanages Spending Less Than a Penny a Day on Each Child
An investigation by the Russian general prosecutor's office into violations of the law in state orphanages has found some institutions allocate as little as 30 kopecks (0.6p) a day for each child's care.

Ukraine Mps Vote to Sack Cabinet Over Gas Deal With Russia
Opposition MPs in Ukraine issued a rebuke to President Viktor Yushchenko yesterday by voting to sack his cabinet over last week's deal to end the "gas war" with Russia.

'Russia's Curse' Casts Pall Over Orthodox Holiday
Putin vows to find a cure for blight of alcohol that claims 500,000 lives a year.

Ex-PM to Challenge Gas Price Deal With Russia
Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Timoshenko yesterday said she would challenge in court the deal which this week ended Ukraine's gas price dispute with Russia.

Russia and Ukraine Hail Gas Deal
Russia and Ukraine ended their dispute over gas prices with a face-saving deal yesterday amid fears it might be only a temporary solution.

Russia and Ukraine Agree Gas Deal
Russia today agreed to resume gas shipments to Ukraine following a night of talks between officials from the two countries.

Russia Ups the Ante As Gas Talks Resume
· Minister suggests further price rise for Ukraine · EU supply restored amid Kiev's denials of theft

Russia Restores Full Eu Gas Supplies
Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, restored full natural gas supplies to Europe today as Ukrainian and Russian energy officials resumed talks over their pricing dispute.

Russia Steps Back From Brink With Ukraine and Restores Gas Supplies to Europe
Russia's image as a reliable international energy supplier became increasingly tarnished yesterday as a stand-off with Ukraine over gas prices disrupted supplies to Europe.

Russian Gas Row Reignites Nuclear Debate
A Russian gas supply crisis last night triggered warnings that UK householders will face further significant price increases during 2006.

Russia Turns Off Supplies to Ukraine in Payment Row, and Eu Feels the Chill
· Germany and Hungary feel first knock-on effects · Kremlin says Kiev must pay fuel's market price

Ukraine and Russia Go to Brink Over Huge Gas Price Rise
· Kiev faces quadrupling of cost as subsidy withdrawn · Threats from both sides ahead of January deadline

Russian Town Stockpiles Water As Industrial Spill From China Raises Fear of Deadly Contamination
Residents of a city in Russia's far east were hoarding saucepans and bottles of water last night, as deadly toxins from a factory explosion in China flowed into the city, raising fears of contamination.

Chinese Toxic Spill Flows Into Russian City
Authorities in the far east of Russia today appealed for calm as a toxic spill from China flowed into the city of Khabarovsk.

Bulgakov Classic to Enthral Russia
The streets are expected to be deserted tonight at 8.55 when millions switch on their televisions for the first Russian screen adaptation of a surreal 1930s novel that features a gun-slinging cat and the devil as a magician.

Russia Threatens to Cut Off Ukraine's Gas Supply
Russia drastically raised the price for vital winter fuel supplies to neighbouring Ukraine yesterday, hours after threatening to cut off the country's gas if a deal was not reached by January 1.

Schröder Faces Growing Scandal Over Job With Russian Gas Giant
Germany's former chancellor Gerhard Schröder is at the centre of damaging allegations of sleaze over his decision to accept a lucrative job with Russia's biggest company.

Dam to Shield Russia From Factory's Toxic Slick
China may build a temporary dam to prevent a toxic slick from reaching Russian waters, a government spokesman said yesterday as the human and diplomatic fall-out from one of the country's worst pollution scandals gathered pace.

The Trail of Russia's New Enemy Within
The film is shaky, its pixillated frames jarring as it scans across the contents of the makeshift ...

Toxic Slick Heads Towards Russia
Russian officials have urged residents not to panic as a slick of toxic river water heads towards the far eastern city of Khabarovsk, but ecologists say the impact will be catastrophic.

Poland Risks Russia's Wrath With Soviet Nuclear Attack Map
· Defence chief reveals old Warsaw Pact plans · UK spared as European cities faced destruction

Russia Tries to Curb Aid Agencies
Western aid and civil society groups said yesterday they faced being closed down after Russia's parliament passed a bill restricting foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Russian Thanksgiving Dinner – Mystery Ingredients
Cooking Thanksgiving dinner in Russia. What could be easier?

'Racist' Russian Tv Advert Investigated
Russian prosecutors are investigating a TV advert produced by a Kremlin-linked political party which suggests that dark-skinned Caucasians should be purged from Moscow's streets.

Playing Chess in Russia – The Agony of Victory
Russians and chess, the two just go together. To bad I didn't know how to play.

Russian Tells of Air Crash Grief That Led to Killing
· Father 'showed photos of dead family to controller' · Relatives of victims rally in support of Kaloyev

Russian Romance – I Love You
The Russian language is no an easy one to learn. This can lead to problems in the romance department.

World Series In Russia – Huh? What?
Time for the World Series and baseball in Siberia.

Population Dip in Russia Blamed on Alcoholism and Poverty
Russia's population has shrunk to 143 million, with the federal statistics agency announcing that the country had seen a decline of 506,400 since January.

Russian Forces End Rebel Siege
Officials in Nalchik today say security forces stormed police station held by militants and freed hostages.

Gun Battle Leaves 85 Dead in Russia
Senior government officials in the southern Russian town of Nalchik today said security forces had stormed a police station and shop held by militants and freed seven hostages. The head of the regional government, Gennady Gubin, said all extremist activity had been put down after more...

Rebels Take Fight to New Front in Russia
· Up to 60 die as militants attack peaceful spa town · Standoff with police after Islamists take hostages

Russia halts rocket launches after European satellite failure
Russia's beleaguered space industry suffered another setback yesterday when officials suspended launches of a rocket system that had been used at the weekend in a failed attempt to put a European polar monitoring satellite into orbit.

Golden curtain divides old and new Russia
Moscow's rich keep their children under lock and key as fears of social unrest grow.

Russian secret meeting in Britain
Diary: President Putin attended a cabinet security committee meeting at Downing Street yesterday. It's almost certainly the first time someone so influential in Russian politics has attended such a secret meeting in Britain - unless one were to count Harold Wilson.

Jailed Russian Billionaire on Hunger Strike
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed Russian billionaire, announced last night that he was going on hunger strike in protest at his business associate being moved into an isolation cell.

Russia and China Rattle Sabres With Joint War Games
Russia and China launched their first joint military exercise yesterday in a show of force calculated to dissuade the US from presuming a dominant role in global security.

Impostors Prosper in Russian Exam Scam
A new breed of double agent is subverting Russia's exam system: the surrogate student who's paid to sit your test.

Russia Battles to Rescue Trapped Sub
Crew reported to be 'OK' as British and US aid arrives.

Russians Retreat in Face of Hostility
The number of Russians returning to their homeland is increasing for the first time since the mass emigration that followed the fall of the Soviet Union, some fleeing a tide of anti-Russian sentiment stirred by pro-western revolutions across the country's former empire.

Cost of Bribes Soars As Russia's Millionaire Bureaucrats Rake in Profits
More than $300bn (£171bn) will be paid in bribes in Russia this year, almost 10 times as much as in 2001, according to a survey.

After 50 Years, Russia Finally Gets Its Own Zhivago
Filming draws to a close on a television adaptation of Doctor Zhivago, the first acted and directed by Russians.

Maria's Story - A disabled girl in Russia
This is the remarkable true story of Maria, a young pretty disabled mother begging on the streets of Moscow.

Russians Blame Chechen for Us Editor's Murder
Russian prosecutors say the murder of an American journalist, Paul Klebnikov, shot dead in Moscow last year, was ordered by a Chechen separatist angered by the reporter's negative portrayal of him - and have declared the case closed. By Nick Paton Walsh.

Prosecutors Warn Russian Oligarchs
One of Russia's top investigators has warned that other leading business figures will face the same criminal prosecutions as the oil billionaire and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, jailed last week for nine years for tax evasion and fraud.

Russian Oligarch Jailed for Nine Years
President George Bush last night widened the rift with Russia when he revealed his concerns about the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oil billionaire who was sentenced to nine years' jail yesterday for fraud and tax evasion.

Russian Lake is Left High and Dry
One day residents of the tiny Russian village of Bolotnikovo, several hundred kilometres east of Moscow, were fishing in their picturesque lake. The next they were staring at the crater left when it suddenly disappeared.

Bizarre Trial of Russian Billionaire Draws to Close As Guilt is Delayed
Prosecution of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky drew close to its finale in bizarre scenes as judge concluded he had "acted as part of a criminal group" but deferred passing a guilty verdict.

Russia Says 'spies' Work in Foreign Ngos
The Russian security service claimed yesterday to have discovered spies working for the British, US, Saudi and Kuwaiti governments who were operating under the cover of non-governmental organisations.

Russia Accuses 'spies' Working in Foreign Ngos
The Russian security service claimed yesterday to have discovered spies working for the British, US, Saudi and Kuwaiti governments who were operating under the cover of non-governmental organisations.

EU and Russia to Sign Cooperation Pact
The EU and Russia have moved closer to the creation of a single market with an agreement covering the economy and external security, the Russian foreign ministry said today.

Soviet Flags Fly As Russia Remembers
Conjuring up a massive display of military might and discipline reminiscent of the Brezhnev era, President Vladimir Putin hosted more than 50 world leaders for a tribute to those involved in a war that claimed more than 27 million Soviet lives.

Russian Victory Festivities Open Old Wounds in Europe
60th anniversary of Nazis' defeat is hit by boycotts and bitterness.

Russian Youth Group Vows to Name Fascists in Schools
A youth activist group reportedly founded by the Kremlin is to name and shame "fascists and their sympathisers" in schools and workplaces, raising fears of ideological witch-hunts reminiscent of Russia's turbulent past.

Russian Regions Vote to Unite
Three remote Russian regions have voted to unite, creating the first of many of 'super-regions' apparently planned by the Kremlin, this one bigger than western Europe.

Ukraine Pm Cancels Visit to Russia
The prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, cancelled her first official trip to Moscow yesterday after Russian prosecutors said she was "still on the wanted list" in connection with bribery charges.

Russians Accused of Sheltering War Crimes Suspects
Bosnian Serbs who allegedly took part in the Srebrenica massacre are being protected by Russia's secret services, say intelligence sources.

Chechen Rebel Leader Killed in Russian Assault
Death of former president Aslan Maskhadov ends hope of a negotiated settlement to end the 10-year conflict with Russia.

Russians 'kill' Chechen Leader
The Russian military today said it had killed the Chechen rebel leader, Aslan Maskhadov, one of its most wanted men, in a "special operation".

Communists Poised to Win Moldovan Poll - and Reject Russia
Moldova voted in a parliamentary election yesterday that looked set to make the impoverished European country the latest former Soviet Union state to shun ties with Moscow through the ballot box.

Russian Deal Will Send Nuclear Fuel to Iran Soon
Russia and Iran signed a long-awaited agreement yesterday which paves the way for the delivery within weeks of nuclear fuel to a regime which Washington claims is seeking an atomic bomb and sponsors terrorism.

Russia Ordered to Pay for Chechen Deaths
Russia faced fines and sharp censure over its Chechen conflict yesterday as the European court of human rights found Moscow guilty of killing civilians and bluntly ordered it to pay compensation of more than €135,000 (£93,000).

Bush Warns Russian Leader to Respect Democratic Values
US president acknowledges ties with Russia have weakened.

Ukraine Protest No Longer About Us or Russian Candidate
The Ukrainian protest is no longer about the US or Russian candidate. It is about ending 12 years of misrule.

Yukos Bosses Flee Russia
The crisis at the Yukos oil company deepened today after all its senior executives fled Russia to avoid arrest.

Ukraine Crisis Threatens Rift Between Us and Russia
Ukraine's political crisis deepened last night after three days of street protests and political drama threatened to cause a diplomatic rift between Russia and the US.

One Hundred Russian Mail Order Brides Attend Postmark Paradise Premier
As Postmark Paradise continues to gather momentum and garner critical acclaim worldwide, the name Natalia Nazarova becomes synonymous with the true American presence of Russian mail order brides...

Russia Calls Time on Street Boozers
Nick Paton Walsh: It is a staple part of Moscow street life. Russians drink beer like Westerners drink de luxe coffee: in parks, on the street, on the Metro. But not for much longer.

Russian Boom Lifts Bp Profits
Booming Russian oil production helps BP to report 11% increase in its third-quarter output. Booming Russian oil production helped BP to report yesterday an 11% increase in its third-quarter output and put it on track for full-year profits of about £9bn.

EU Pays to Stem Russia's Sewage
Brussels funds St Petersburg clean-up to cut Baltic pollution after Putin declines to help.

Russia Braces for Tough New Terror Laws
Sweeping counter-terrorism laws were debated in the Russian parliament yesterday, including proposals that would allow the country to declare itself at war and impose tight restrictions on travel and the media. Under the plans, Russian television and radio journalists would not be allowed...

Russians Hold Mass Anti-terror Protests
Tens of thousands of Russians today gathered outside the Kremlin to demonstrate against terrorism, responding to government calls for solidarity following recent attacks in which more than 400 people were killed. Waving flags and banners, the crowd stood still and silent for a moment...

Koizumi Risks New Spat With Russia
The Japanese prime minister risked causing a diplomatic incident with Moscow yesterday by taking a boat trip to inspect islands that have been at the centre of a territorial dispute since the second world war. Despite warnings that the trip would sour relations, Junichiro Koizumi boarded...

400 Taken Hostage at Russian School
Up to 400 people, including 200 schoolchildren, were today taken hostage in a school in southern Russia. The attackers threatened to blow up the buildings should the security forces attempt to intervene, according to Reuters. The Russian security service, the FSB, confirmed that between...

Russian Super-rich Turn Back the Clock in Palatial Fashion
Tired of being remarkable just for their wealth, Russia's super rich want to buy aristocratic class - and a development on the outskirts of St Petersburg offers just that. There the elite of the country's cultural capital can buy houses built to resemble famous palaces, such as Versailles...

Russia on Alert After Double Jet Crash
Vladimir Putin last night ordered security services to begin an investigation after one passenger plane with 42 people on board crashed and another aircraft carrying 52 went missing within minutes of each other after taking off from Moscow.

Interbrew Expands in Beer-thirsty Russia
Interbrew, the Belgian group which this month is expected to become the world's largest brewer, yesterday took full control of Russia's second biggest beer group for €530m (£356m) in shares. By buying out its joint venture partner - family controlled SUN Group - Interbrew, maker...

Kremlin Soothes Bp Over Trading in Russia
Lord Browne, the BP chief executive, has sought personal assurances from the Kremlin that his investments in Russia through TNK-BP will not be hit by the Yukos affair. He now believes the problems facing Russia's biggest oil group are largely political - and particular to that company -...

Editor Murdered in Russia
Another prominent foreign journalist has been killed in Moscow eight days after the American investigative reporter Paul Klebnikov was murdered outside his office. Pail Peloyan, the editor of the magazine Armenian Lane, was found on the hard shoulder of Moscow's large ring road with...

Russians Jailed Over Chechen Rebel Killing
The supreme court in Qatar jailed two Russian intelligence agents for life yesterday for the murder of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a former Chechen president and rebel leader. Judge Ibrahim al-Nisf said the men were "acting on the orders of the Russian leadership", an accusation which the...

No Love Lost on Russia's Rich
One of Russia's most powerful oligarchs - linked recently with the possible purchase of Manchester City and previously Arsenal football club - yesterday expressed his frustration at being "unloved" in his home country. Talking in a swish leather and glass bar at the top of Interros...

'Vegas of the East' Cleans Up Image
It is known as the Las Vegas of the east. A decadent neon playground, a city boasting the world's greatest number of billionaires and where money can buy any pleasure; chemical or carnal. But now Moscow, keen to bolster its image as an international centre for business and tourism, is...

Russia's Super Rich Start to Come Clean As Tax Police Dig Deep
Russia's top earner took home a 95.4bn roubles (£1.8bn) last year, but is keeping his identity secret, no doubt mindful of the apparent backlash against the wealthy. Tax ministry officials said it was the first time a Russian had declared an income of more than $1bn. Income tax at...

Slow Start to 'show Trial' of Russian Oil Chief
Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, went on trial yesterday for tax evasion and fraud in what Kremlin critics dismissed as the first stage of a "show trial". The former boss of the Yukos oil company was handcuffed to a prison guard and rushed into the Meshchansky court in Moscow...

Open Trial for Russia's Richest Man
The trial of Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, for fraud and tax evasion will start a week today before a panel of three judges in an open court. A pre-trial hearing yesterday also ruled that the oil billionaire, whose arrest Kremlin critics have said was prompted by his...

Fresh Terror Fears As Bomb Kills Nine in Russian Market
At least nine people were killed and 37 wounded yesterday by an explosion in a crowded market in the southern town of Samara, raising fears of another summer bombing campaign in Russia. Police said the blast was caused by about a kilogram of plastic explosives placed in a small gap...

Russia's Poorest Face Huge Cuts in Benefits
System supporting veterans, disabled people and pensioners to be swept away as Moscow reforms aim to cap compensation.

Over 100 Russian Mail Order Brides to Gather
Over 100 Russian Mail Order Brides will assemble for the Premiere screening of the Award Winning US Independent film, "POSTMARK PARADISE"...

Fate of Russia's Lost Art Treasure Revealed After 60-year Cover-up
According to evidence disclosed today in Guardian Weekend, Peter the Great's 18th century Amber Room, a missing art treasure valued at £150m, was inadvertently destroyed by Russian troops during the collapse of Nazi Germany.

Latvia Risks Russian Ire After Mps Vote to Open Kgb Records
Latvia has escalated tensions with Moscow by deciding to open its old KGB files. The decision, taken in a parliamentary vote late on Wednesday night, will further fuel an already furious dispute over the alleged Latvian mistreatment of thousands of ethnic Russians who live in the...

Russia's Dream Gone West
Poverty and corporate corruption show capitalism is not working in this former communist state. Now Europe must help.

Russian Author's Son Killed 'by Schoolboy Kidnappers'
The 13-year-old son of Russia's best-selling fantasy writer has been murdered in a bungled kidnapping allegedly involving some of his school friends. Ivan Belyanin was abducted on his way home from school in the southern town of Astrakhan on Wednesday. His body was found the next day...

Chechen Gets Life for Killing 127 Russian Soldiers
A Chechen man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 127 Russian soldiers travelling in a helicopter which he shot down with a shoulder-fired missile as it prepared to land in the Chechen capital, Grozny. Doku Dzhantemirov, 27, from Grozny, was found guilty of murder,...

Chechen Who Killed 127 Russians Jailed
A Chechen man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 127 Russian soldiers travelling in a helicopter which he shot down with a shoulder-fired missile as it prepared to land in the Chechen capital, Grozny. Doku Dzhantemirov, 27, from Grozny,was found guilty of murder,...

Russian Army Hit By Suicides
Nearly 80 Russian soldiers have killed themselves so far this year, defence sources said.

Olympic luxury for Russian elite
Russia's delegation to the 2004 Olympics will live in an exclusive floating village, moored metres off the Greek capital, with each room costing at least €10,000.

Russia Dumps Its Children on the Streets
Poverty forces families to abandon record numbers of 'social orphans' to a hopeless life of drugs and begging.

Ample Alyona Shakes Up Russian Pageant
With her generous form Alyona Pisklova is an unlikely poster girl for Russia, a country which prides itself on its rather skeletal Slavic body. But she became the runaway favourite to enter the Miss Universe contest when it was decided to drop the traditional selection jury and rely on...

Hope Fades for Workers Trapped in Russian Mine
The death toll from one of the worst accidents to hit Russia's mining industry in years rose to 42 yesterday as hopes dwindled that five miners trapped underground would be found alive.

Battle to Save 30 Miners Grips Russia
Rescue bid continues after explosion kills 22.

Russia Finds Home for Floating Reactor
Russia named the location for the world's first floating nuclear power station yesterday. A stretch of land on its northern coast will become home to a project that for years seemed to be no more than a far-fetched dream. The local government in the polar region of Archangel said...

Russian Found Guilty of Treason
A Russian researcher employed by a respected western thinktank was convicted of high treason last night after the jury at a Moscow court ruled he had sold Russian submarine and missile secrets to the CIA. Igor Sutyagin, a researcher for the Institute of USA and Canada Studies, was found...

Russia gets set for military TV
Russia is to introduce a military TV channel in an effort to improve its image and reduce the number of people trying to avoid conscription.

Skinheads thrive as nationalist tide rises in Russia
Abdul Wase was yards from his home when nine skinheads set on him in the underpass, beating him with bottles and metal bars and cracking his head open on a fence. He lay in a coma for six days in hospital before dying last Wednesday.

US Says Russia Need Not Fear Bigger Nato
Russia was told it had nothing to fear from an expanded Nato yesterday as the former Soviet Baltic republics and members of the Warsaw Pact raised their flags at the headquarters of the Atlantic alliance. Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, insisted there was no need for "heightened...

Russia - Watch This Space
It may be a shadow of its cold war self, but it would be a mistake for the west to assume that Russia is a spent force.

Corus Deal Leaves Russian Out in Cold
Corus brushed aside an approach yesterday from its second biggest shareholder and secured a 10-year deal with a Brazilian miner to supply iron ore.

Russia Says Nato is Ignoring Afghan Opium Trade
Russia's defence minister said Afghanistan was now producing nine times the quantity of drugs it did under the Taliban.

BP Raises Stakes in Its Russian Energy Gamble
BP could obtain 20% of its global oil and gas production this year from Russia as it pushes ahead with a heavier than expected capital expenditure. About $1.3bn (£720m) has been earmarked for investment by the 50%-owned TNK-BP venture, which is hoping to ramp up output by 12%...

Russia No Longer a Game of Business Roulette
Sceptics who refused to believe that Russia was a new power in the commercial world were sent packing in 2003.

Suspected Suicide Bomb Kills at Least 40 in Russia
Russian authorities are convinced that a suspected suicide bomb which killed at least 40 people and injured 140 others is connected with Chechnya.

Russian Oil Magnate Fears Taint of Further Charges
Prosecutors primed to defy international campaign to free tycoon. The imprisoned billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky may soon face a battery of further charges brought by Russian prosecuting authorities trying to fend off a growing international campaign to free him, his chief defence lawyer said yesterday.

James Meek: Our Faces in Russia's Mirror
Of course Putin's crackdown on the oligarchs is causing panic in the west. I hope nothing too unpleasant happens to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, believed by many to be Russia's richest man, while he is in prison. I do not think it will. He has some of the most powerful organisations in the world on his side.

Russian Prosecutors Put Abramovich in Their Sights
New inquiry to begin as Yukos chief quits. Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has languished in a remand cell since his arrest nine days ago, moved to protect his oil company, Yukos, and personal fortune yesterday by resigning as its chief executive.

Arrest Opens Way for Russian State to Renationalise Yukos
Yukos faces being effectively renationalised by the Russian government if its chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is convicted of fraud. Khodorkovsky's one-third stake in the oil giant could be forfeited to the government if he is convicted of conspiring in fraud with Platon Lebedev,...

Kremlin Seizes Assets As State Power Returns to Russia
Raid on oil giant sparks panic in financial markets. The Russian government sent shockwaves through the international financial community last night when it took the unprecedented step of freezing shares in the country's largest oil company.

Clean-up for Russian Arctic
A $30m (£17.7m) plan to find new ways of cleaning up the polluted Russian Arctic - and to open the way for $40bn of commercial investment - was announced by international agencies in London yesterday. Experts backed by Acops, the advisory committee on the protection of the sea - set...

BP Tries to Heal Rift With Russians
Lord Browne, the chief executive of BP, admitted yesterday that a past bust-up between his company and his new Russian co-investors in TNK-BP had left a residue of distrust between the two sides.

Russian Tycoon Goes Free
The former Russian media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky, accused of money laundering and fraud in Russia, was yesterday told he was a free man after a Greek court rejected a controversial extradition request. The appeals court ruled that Mr Gusinsky - one of the Russian oligarchs who made a...

Exxon eyes Russian oil
ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil group, should seal a deal to take a substantial stake in the newly-merged YukosSibneft, Russia's largest oil and gas company, within months, analysts said yesterday.

ExxonMobil rumours abound as Russian oil firms merge
Yukos and Sibneft today completed a $45bn (£26.9bn) merger to create Russia's biggest company amid reports that US oil giant ExxonMobil was in talks to acquire a stake in the new group.

Russian media warned under strict new law
Two Russian news magazines, the first victims of a draconian election media law, have received warnings from the press ministry about their coverage of voting in Moscow.

It's Europe's lungs and home to many rare species. But to Russia it's £100bn of wood
A plan by the Kremlin which would allow Moscow to sell off the 843m hectares of Russia's forests to private logging companies has raised fears of an ecological disaster.

Russian Mafia Tries to Cash in on Lost Rubens
Germany urges Kremlin to step in as criminals try to sell back masterpiece plundered in last days of second world war.

Bomb wrecks Russian security service base
At least three people died and 25 were injured yesterday when a lorry bomb exploded at the headquarters of the Russian security service, the FSB, miles from the borders of the war-torn separatist republic of Chechnya.

Extradition Case Becomes Disaster for Russia
Chechen envoy turns tables on accusers in London.

Six killed by Russian train bomb
Six people were killed and at least 30 wounded, seven critically, when two bombs exploded under a commuter train in southern Russia yesterday, apparently as part of the Chechen rebel campaign.

BP Bill for Russian Asset Grab Hits $8bn
BP yesterday upped its controversial investment in Russian oil and gas to almost $8bn by agreeing to pay an extra $1.35bn to its chosen merger partner for a stake in another oil company. In a complex series of deals BP is paying a total of $7.7bn (£4.8bn) to gain access to reserves...

Russia gives BP the black gold go-ahead
Britain's biggest firm is about to complete its $6bn oil deal. The stakes - and risks - are huge. Oil group BP yesterday put its merger with TNK firmly on track for completion next month after it won approval from the Russian competition authorities for the ground-breaking $6.15bn (£3.9bn) deal.

US jets to fly at Russian air show
It used to be US spy satellites that circled above the once top-secret Soviet air base, but this week F-15 fighter jets and a B-52 bomber will slice through the skies over Zhukovsky airfield during the Moscow international air show, which opened yesterday.

Russian couple try to sell baby daughter
A young couple have stunned Russia by trying to sell their daughter for $1,000 so they could buy a new house. In an incident betraying the poverty and desperation in which many Russians live in the regions outside of Moscow, Sergei Pivovarov, 29, and Olga Kemerova, 30, were arrested by police on Wednesday night.

Vivek Chaudhary: Russian Roulette
Chelsea are not the first team to try to buy success in football, but it takes more than just money. When the new Premiership season kicks off tomorrow, the eyes of many football fans are more likely to be on west London rather than the traditional power bases of Manchester, Liverpool or north London.

Russian mothers plead for sons to stay in Guantanamo
The mothers of the eight Russians held with other prisoners from Afghanistan at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay have begged Washington not to extradite their sons to answer terror charges in Russia, fearing that conditions in their jails and judicial system are even worse than those at Camp Delta.

Russia: The social rights of the liquidators of radioactive catastrophe had been recovered in court
Keywords: radioactive catastrophe in 1957, Chelyabinsk, nuclear reprocessing plant 'Mayak', young liquidators, social and human rights

Suicide truck bomb kills 35 at Russian military hospital
At least 35 people were killed yesterday and dozens more injured, some seriously, when a suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with explosives into a military hospital in southern Russia, razing a four-storey building to the ground.

Minks, Sables Starve At Russian Fur Farm
In Russia, minks and sables at a well-known Moscow-region fur farm are dying from starvation, according to Russia’s Green Party.

Do Not Disturb
Stalin, Gagarin and Sakharov all loved it. Now the Moskva hotel is to be pulled down - and replaced by a replica. Jonathan Glancey on the strange fate of a Soviet icon.

Zhivago row in Russian schools
A row has broken out between the Russian government and a group of the country's top writers over removing literary classics about the repression of the Soviet era from the school syllabus.

Russian colonel jailed for murder
Russia finally closed one of the most brutal and embarrassing episodes of its ongoing conflict in Chechnya yesterday when a colonel was sentenced to 10 years in jail for the kidnap and murder of an 18-year-old Chechen woman.

'Gorbachev's dachas' upset Russian Greens
Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet President turned leading environmental campaigner, has infuriated ecologists by seeking permission to build luxury cottages on 110 acres of protected green-belt forest outside Moscow.

Curiosity kills Russia's first cat caviar detective
Russia's first and only "sniffer cat" has been run over in what police are calling a contract killing. The cat was killed just days after starting work with police battling the illegal, and often bloody, caviar trade.

Russia's suicide rate doubles
The suicide rate in Russia has almost doubled since 1990, with nearly 57,500 Russians taking their own lives every year, according to figures released by the World Health Organisation.

Reclaimed villages to emerge from Stalin-era reservoir
Seventy villages and towns flooded on Stalin's orders during the 1930s to create a huge hydroelectric power plant are set to rise again as part of a plan to drain and reclaim the land.

BP Shields Itself From Lawsuits in Russian Deal
BP has taken steps to protect itself via indemnities against being dragged in to legal cases swirling around its controversial new Russian partners, Alfa Group and Access-Renova. Lord Browne, the BP chief executive, spelled out the defensive measures after Mikhail Fridman - chairman of...

UK and Russia Strike 'historic' Energy Deal
Britain and Russia today continued to strengthen their economic ties as the countries' leaders sealed what the UK government described as a "historic" energy pact. The agreement is intended to promote investment and the development of energy sources in Russia, while securing an important...

Russian troops terrorise farmers as Chechen war crosses border
Isa Zabiyev found his brother's body in a shallow grave two hundred metres from where the Russian bullets ripped into their family car. Umar, 31, his brother Ali, 28, and their mother Tamara, 65, were driving home from harvesting their potato crop when their old car came under heavy fire from the forest.

Islamists arrested in Russia
Fifty-five members of an Islamist group, Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Liberation Party), were arrested in Moscow by the security services, the FSB, on Saturday, in one of the broadest crackdowns on Muslim organisations in Russia.

Terror plot thwarted, say Russians
A major terror attack on the city of St Petersburg during its tricentennial celebrations was thwarted last weekend, according to Russian security sources.

Chechen bomber hits Russia
Seventeen people were killed and 15 injured yesterday when a woman blew up a bus carrying 40 passengers near a military airfield in the southern Russian town of Mozdok, the first suicide bombing in Russia outside the rebel republic of Chechnya.

Shell joins $10bn Russian gas rush
Shell yesterday committed a substantial part of its future growth to Russia by giving the go-ahead to plans by a consortium to build a $10bn (£6bn) liquefied natural gas plant in the country's far east.

Sars Fear Hits Russia
Russia today reported its first Sars case, as Moscow ordered airlines to stop taking bookings to China and other areas at the centre of the global outbreak. Russia's civil aviation service said it had told all carriers to prepare for a complete ban on flights to China, Hong Kong and...

Russia Demands Un Role in Weapons Checks
Scientist from fallen regime claims chemical and biological warfare equipment was destroyed days before conflict started.

Expanding union woos Russia
The EU reached out beyond its expanding borders yesterday to call for closer relations with powerful neighbours such as Russia and Ukraine, both too big ever to join the club.

MP's killing rocks Russian democracy
A leading Russian MP was shot dead in the entrance to his home in central Moscow yesterday evening, the third prominent politician to be assassinated since August.

Russian diplomatic convoy attacked
A convoy of Russian diplomats was attacked yesterday en route to Syria from their embassy in Baghdad, wounding at least four officials and journalists.

Russian killer snared after reign of terror
A Russian criminal begins a life sentence of hard labour this week for a decade of terror in which he tortured and killed, burying 15 victims under concrete.

Russian PM enmeshed in fish scam
The Russian judicial authorities said yesterday that they wanted to question the prime minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, in connection with a wide-ranging investigation into corruption in the fishing industry.

Russia's Stealth Diplomacy
Possibly irked by persistent American U-2 aerial spy missions above its fringes, Russia fired yesterday, from a mobile launcher, a "Topol" RS-12M Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).

US and Russia in weapons clash
The divide between Moscow and Washington on the war in Iraq grew even wider yesterday when George Bush telephoned Vladimir Putin over US claims that Russian firms were illegally selling military equipment to Baghdad. But officials in Moscow fiercely rebutted the accusations.

France, Russia and Germany Reject 24 Hour Ultimatum
· France reiterates veto threat
· Russia: no additional resolutions necessary
· Security council meeting today

Russia to vote against new resolution
· Ivanov delivers warning
· Short criticised by cabinet loyalists
· Diplomatic pressure growing

Russia rules out abstention with veto call
Russia made it clear to the US and Britain yesterday that it is prepared to use its security council veto against a second UN resolution authorising war against Iraq.

Russia refuses to rule out UN veto
The Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, has refused to rule out the use of Russia's power of veto in the event of a UN security council vote on Iraq.

Russian MP says Kremlin sanctions Chechnya killings
A leading Russian MP and human rights activist has severely embarrassed the Kremlin by holding briefings for senior US officials in Washington in which he has accused Moscow of complicity in the murder of its opponents by "death squads" in Chechnya.

BP's Russian Partners Accused of $30m Tax Dodge
BP's new Russian partners have been accused of defrauding the Inland Revenue and using the Isle of Man to launder funds in legal papers placed before the courts, it emerged last night. The Alfa Group and other Russian firms are alleged to have used a London-based subsidiary, Crown...

Russia Straddles the Euro-Atlantic Divide
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday, in an interview he granted to TF1, a French television channel, that unilateral American-British military action against Iraq would be a "grave mistake" and an "unreasonable use of force". Russia might veto it in the Security Council, he averred. In a joint declaration with France and Germany, issued the same day, he called to enhance the number of arms inspectors in Iraq as an alternative to war.

Storm Brews Over Bp's Russian Deal
BP is to be dragged into a $3bn (£1.9bn) legal claim brought by a Canadian-based group against the oil major's new Russian partners over allegations of tax fraud and "racketeering". The move - underlining the dangers of dealing with Russia - came as environmental campaigners...

Russia's British Turning Point
British Petroleum teamed up with the Alfa Group-Access-Renova (AAR) concern to equally form Russia's third largest energy company. The new titan will digest Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) International, Rusia Petroleum and Sidanco Oil, which produce, between them, c. 1.2 million barrels per day. The combined outfit will tap between 5-9 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as well as perhaps 100 trillion cubic feet of gas.

UK Oil Giant Makes Major Russian Investment
Russia today received a vote of confidence from BP when the oil giant revealed a $6.7bn (£4.1bn) investment in a Russian group. The move will dramatically boost BP's oil and gas output. The British firm, the world's third-biggest oil company, will take a 50% stake in a company made up of...

BP Buys Into Big Oil in Russia
British group ready to sink £2.8bn into 1m barrels-a-day joint venture. BP is in talks to create a new Russian and global oil giant with up to $4.5bn (£2.8bn) earmarked for investment in TNK, one of Russia's top energy groups alongside Yukos and Lukoil.

Russia: no need for second UN resolution
Russia today said there was no need for the UN security council to pass a second resolution authorising war with Iraq while opportunities still exist for a political solution to the crisis.

Russia expels US woman
Russia has deported an American woman to Los Angeles after accusing her of illegally staying in Moscow while she established contact with al-Qaida and Islamic extremists, offering to help them commit an act of terrorism in the US.

Russia's rich fuel luxury car theft racket
Walther Schmelzeng has a problem. The insurance investigator went with the police to reclaim a luxury car that had been stolen from Germany and traced to Moscow, where it was being driven with forged documents.

Situation normal: Russia is frozen solid
Zhores Alfyorev, the Nobel physics laureate, points to the frozen and cracked heating pipes in his laboratory and laughs: "One more proof of the rule in physics that water expands when it turns into a solid."

Russia turns blind eye to disappeared
They found the arms and legs in a plastic bag. As heavy snow gathered around a block of flats on General Belov Street in northern Moscow, the garbage collectors unearthed, among New Year's Eve's discarded vodka bottles, two human legs and two arms.

Russian spy fever embroils UK ecologist
A British ecologist working on the conservation of Lake Baikal, the world's deepest freshwater lake, has had documents and computers seized by the Russian internal security service, the FSB.

Russia in 2003
Contrary to recent impressions, Russia's Western (American-German) orientation is at least as old as Gorbachev's reign. It was vigorously pursued by Yeltsin. Still, 2002 marks the year in which Russia became merely another satellite of the United States - though one armed with an ageing nuclear arsenal.

Russia: Falling rolls, falling villages
In the Russian village of Buichki, Sasha Nenashev, 7, is particularly precious this New Year. In this failing agricultural settlement near the Ukrainian border, he is at the top of his class at school.

Russia prepares to restore Romanovs
Russia may reclaim its tsarist history next year by declaring null and void the crimes for which its last monarch, Tsar Nicholas II, was executed in 1917 at the height of the Bolshevik revolution.

Russia's Middle Class
A conference held, at the beginning of the month, in St. Petersburg, was aptly titled "Middle Class - The Myths and the Reality". Russia is way poorer than Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, or even Poland. But, as income disparities grow, a group of discriminating consumers with the purchasing power to match, is re-emerging, having been submerged by the 1998 implosion of the financial sector.

Violent Chechen rebel chief dies in Russian prison
One of the most violent and radical Chechen rebel leaders, Salman Raduyev, has died suddenly in a maximum security Russian jail where he was serving a life sentence for multiple murders and terrorism.

Russians and east Europeans act to protect sex trade victims
Twelve Balkan and east European interior ministers agreed yesterday to give women taken to their countries as sex slaves temporary rights of residence.

Russian Plea Fails As Chechen Stays Free
Britain yesterday resisted Russian pressure to imprison Akhmed Zakayev, the Chechen rebel government's top negotiator, by agreeing to an extension of his release on bail pending an extradition hearing in London next month. "The government has no objection to bail continuing in its present...

Redgrave Fearful As Russia's Most Wanted Man Fights to Stay in Uk
The actor Vanessa Redgrave will be at Bow Street magistrates' court in central London this morning in support of her latest political cause - the fight against extradition of a senior Chechen rebel whom Russia has branded its most wanted man. The court will decide whether Akhmed Zakayev,...

Russian mob will be at the heart of the EU
Early on Saturday morning, Borisovo second-hand car market on the outskirts of the small Russian enclave of Kaliningrad offers a wealth of bargains.

Russia shocked by elite forces' killing spree
They were among the elite of the Kremlin's special forces. The cream of the Russian equivalent of the US Navy Seals, they were trained to parachute into water from 13,000 feet, to reach land in safety and to kill with stealth.

Russia Angered By Freeing of Chechen
Would you bail Bin Laden? foreign minister asks London.

Russia foils conman's fledgling ministry
A con artist has attempted one of the most audacious frauds in Russian history by faking the signature of President Vladimir Putin to establish his own government ministry, according to reports.

Russia's Last Oligarch
Even by the imperceptible standards of eastern Europe, the crony-infested Russian version of "privatization" was remarkable for its audacity and scope.

Denmark's release of Chechen clouds relations with Russia
Denmark risked a breakdown of relations with Russia last night, by releasing a Chechen separatist whom Moscow wants extradited to stand trial on charges linked to terrorism.

Russian Dr Death 'killed 17'
A St Petersburg doctor who allegedly anaesthetised 50 elderly female patients in order to steal their family heirlooms is on trial for murdering 17 of them when they awoke prematurely to hear him rifling through their possessions.

Russia's veterans battle to bring back glorious name of Stalingrad
It was the scene of the greatest battle of the Second World War, where the Nazi war machine began to crumble and at least two million men lost their lives.

Killer who was high on mushrooms exposes lows of life in Russian army
A Russian soldier shot and killed eight of his colleagues yesterday during a hallucinogenic fit brought on by eating magic mushrooms.

Barbie is banned from Russia, without love
An unfeasably busty plastic doll, known for her lavish tastes and docile boyfriend, is an unlikely enemy of the Russian state. But Barbie, along with a host of Western toys, faces the wrath of the Kremlin for contaminating the young minds of Russia.

Russia Tells Us to Stick to Un Script
Vladimir Putin warned the US last night not to go it alone against Iraq, sounding a note of caution after an otherwise warm welcome to President Bush in Russia. On the icy steps of the Tsarskoye Selo palace at Pushkin, near Mr Putin's home town of St Petersburg, the Russian president said...

Chechen Shadow Over Eu-russian Summit
The EU is being urged today to put human rights at the centre of its dialogue with Russia at a summit overshadowed by the crisis in Chechnya. But despite mounting pressure to negotiate an end to the conflict in the wake of the Moscow hostage affair, Vladimir Putin insisted yesterday that...

Russia Launches Fresh Crackdown on Chechen Rebels
Russia has cancelled plans to cut its troop strength in Chechnya and is stepping up its search-and-kill operations after reports that resistance fighters are preparing new acts of terror, Sergei Ivanov, the defence minister, said yesterday. Within minutes of his statement, the military...

Russia's Vodka Wars
Vodka is a crucial component in Russian life. And in Russian death. Alcohol-related accidents and cardiac arrests have already decimated Russian life expectancy by well over a decade during the last decade alone.

Russia as a Creditor
Russia is notorious for its casual attitude to the re-payment of its debts. It has defaulted and re-scheduled its obligations more times in the last decade than it has in the preceding century. Yet, Russia is also one of the world's largest creditor nations.

Russian Agriculture
In Soviet times, Kremlinologists used to pore over grain harvest figures to divine the fortunes of political incumbents behind the Kremlin's inscrutable walls. Many a career have ended due to a meager yield.

The Russian Devolution
Russia's history is a chaotic battle between centrifugal and centripetal forces - between its 50 oblasts (regions), 2 cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg), 6 krais (territories), 21 republics, and 10 okrugs (departments) - and the often cash-strapped and graft-ridden paternalistic center.

Russia's Financial Sector
An expatriate relocation Web site, settler-international.com, has this to say about Russian banks: "Do not open a bank account in a Russian bank : you might not see your deposit again."

State within a State - Russia's Energy Sector
The pension fund of the Russian oil giant, Lukoil, a minority shareholder in TV-6 (owned by a discredited and self-exiled Yeltsin-era oligarch, Boris Berezovsky), this week forced the closure of this television station on legal grounds. Gazprom (Russia's natural gas monopoly) has done the same to another television station, NTV, last year (and then proceeded to expropriate it from its owner, Vladimir Gusinsky).

Russia' s Security Apparatus
Shabtai Kalmanovich vanished from London in late 1980's. He resurfaced in Israel to face trial for espionage. He was convicted and spent years in an Israeli jail before being repatriated to Russia. He was described by his captors as a mastermind, in charge of an African KGB station.

Russia to monitor American elections
Amid the worldwide outbreak of Schadenfreude that accompanied America's chaotic presidential showdown in 2000, senior members of the Russian Communist party sarcastically offered to send election monitors to Palm Beach to help the nascent democracy find its feet.

Danish Arrest of Chechen Leader Delights Russia
Russian officials reacted with delight yesterday to the unexpected arrest in Denmark of Akhmed Zakayev, the top European representative of Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen resistance movement's political leader.

Russia Names Gas Used to End Siege
The gas used by Russian special forces who stormed a Moscow theatre held by dozens of gunmen was based on the opiate fentanyl, officials confirmed this afternoon. The admission by the Russian health minister, Yuri Shevchenko, ends four days of official silence. Mr Shevchenko...

Russia Tries to Stem Scandal Over Gas Victims
· As many as 150 hostages killed by special forces
· Doctors and relatives denied crucial information

Russia seeks tycoon's extradition
The Russian billionaire Boris Berezovksy, who lives in self-imposed exile in London, has been charged by the prosecutor general's office in Moscow with defrauding the state of around £4.5m by obtaining 2,000 Lada cars illegally.

Russia's Missing Billions
Russia's Audit Chamber - with the help of the Swiss authorities and their host of dedicated investigators - may be about to solve a long standing mystery. An announcement by the Prosecutor's General Office is said to be imminent.

Russia lite: Nyet to vodka, Da to beer
Beer is set to outstrip vodka as Russia's favourite tipple, sparking an identity crisis for a nation torn between the heavy-spirited alcoholism of the past and the new wealthy generation's penchant for tanning salons, oxygen bars and gyms.

Sceptical Russians count themselves out of census
Once used to hide the devastation left by Stalin's famines and terror, and now feared as a state tool for monitoring the population, the census has been revived in Russia for the first time for 13 years to gauge the impact of 10 years of economic turbulence and help prepare for the future.

Russia Criticises Us and Uk Airstrikes
Russia today criticised US and British airstrikes in the Iraqi no-fly zone, saying they created "obstacles" towards peacefully resolving the Iraqi crisis. The statement came as UN weapons inspectors opened talks, to hold Saddam Hussein to his pledge of unfettered access to suspect sites...

Russian cinema holds out for a new type of hero
It is just the kind of film the Kremlin is trying to avoid and the Russian public cannot get enough of. Oligarch, the rags-to-riches story of a Russian businessman, based on the life of the London-based tycoon Boris Berezovsky, is breaking box-office records.

Russia lifts objections after Chechen 'deal'
Russia last night dropped its objections to the Anglo-American diplomatic offensive to secure a tough new United Nations security council resolution on Iraq.

100 feared dead in Russian avalanche
Up to a hundred people were feared dead yesterday after a huge chunk of ice broke from a glacier in the Caucasus mountains, burying a village and tourist resorts.

Russia Welcomes Eu's Offer of 'kaliningrad Pass'
Europe sought to resolve a long-standing dispute with Russia yesterday by offering special transit arrangements for residents of Russia's isolated Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad after Poland and Lithuania join the EU. Under proposals unveiled by the European commission, the 1 million...

Russia says its rusting fleet could poison Arctic
Russia issued a stark warning yesterday about the "dilapidated" condition of dozens of navy ships along its eastern and Arctic coasts, where tons of spent fuel from the ageing submarine fleet is stored.

Kidnappers Seize Russian Oil Magnate
The second-in-command of Russia's biggest oil company was kidnapped yesterday while driving to work in Moscow. On the pretext of checking documents - a common occurrence on the roads of Moscow - gunmen driving a car with police number plates stopped the Mercedes of Sergei Kukura, 48,...

US helps Russia move uranium to safer sites
US and Russian nuclear security officers are planning a joint operation with Uzbek officials to remove a large amount of enriched uranium from a reactor site in Uzbekistan considered vulnerable because of its proximity to Afghanistan.

Russia Warns of Rift With Eu Over Kaliningrad Visas
Relations between Russia and the EU risk falling back to cold war levels after Moscow warned yesterday that a dispute over Kaliningrad - a Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania - may become serious if it is not resolved within two months. The EU is demanding that the 1...

US rebukes Russia for Pankisi raid
Georgian troops began their first big anti-terrorist operations in the Pankisi gorge border region yesterday as the United States issued its strongest warning to the Russian government to end its reported bombing of the area, which Moscow considers a base for Chechen rebels.

Monitors confirm Russian attack on Georgia
Georgia accused Russia of an "explicit act of aggression" yesterday, saying it had launched its fifth bombing raid on Georgian territory in a month. At least one civilian died and seven were injured as a result of the 40-minute raid on the Pankisi gorge area, it said.

Russian MP shot dead in 'contract killing'
A prominent member of the Russian parliament who is under investigation over the embezzlement of state funds was shot dead near his home in Moscow yesterday morning as he walked his dog.

Russians find weapon that shot down helicopter
Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has declared tomorrow a day of mourning for the victims of Monday's military helicopter crash in Chechnya. The death toll has risen to 114.

Russia may seek UN deal to hit rebels in Georgia
Russia increased the tension with Georgia yesterday by hinting that it may ask permission from the UN to attack Chechen rebels sheltering in a remote valley in Georgia.

Flat route to raising Russian birthrate
The governor of St Petersburg has come up with a novel way of regenerating his city for its 300th anniversary next year, and rectifying its declining birth-rate.

Child beatings shatter Russian utopia
Commune claims it is a scapegoat in Moscow purge of extremist groups as two of its leaders are jailed. They claimed to be innocent dreamers, living in wooden huts outside Moscow and trying to build a perfect society through poetry and the ideas of Pythagoras, Lenin, a Russian folk singer and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Russia Jails Man Who Claimed to Be Uk Spy
An Algerian man who claimed he lived with a wife and child in London for more than a decade was sentenced to seven years in Russia yesterday for being part of an illegal armed group and trafficking firearms. The 26-year-old man, apprehended on the Azerbaijan-Dagestan border last November,...

Russian nuclear theft alarms US
Chechen rebels have stolen radioactive metals, possibly including plutonium, from a Russian nuclear power station in the southern region of Rostov, according to US nuclear officials.

Comrades fall out in Russia's battle of the dissidents
Former ally and fellow anti-Soviet activist launches bitter attack on 'myth' surrounding Nobel winner Solzhenitsyn. Once they were literary comrades, united in mutual admiration and political dissent.

Russia mourns prizewinning pupils doomed by a twist of fate
Group missed original flight by going to wrong airport. For Bulat Biglov, a brainy 15-year-old boy, it was to be a once-in-a-lifetime treat, an escape from the oil fumes and concrete blocks of Ufa in central Russia to the teenage delights of the Costa Dorada of Spain in July.

New Criminal Code to Shake Up Russian Justice System
Russia embarked on major changes to its criminal justice system yesterday, boosting the rights of defence lawyers and providing for the broader use of jury trials.

Cult of personality grows in Russia
First came the watches, the T-shirts and eggs, each bearing a lovingly etched picture of his face. And now there is a bar and a kebab named in his honour.

Russian Watchdog Attacks Plan to Import Nuclear Waste
Russia's official nuclear watchdog has delivered an unprecedented demolition of the government's plans to become the world's leading importer of nuclear waste, denouncing the scheme as half-baked, misleading and "technologically impossible". In documents leaked to Greenpeace and passed to...

West Gives Russia $20bn to Make Nuclear Sites Safe
Vladimir Putin emerged as the biggest winner at the G8 summit yesterday when the leading western industrial powers agreed to spend $20bn (£13bn) over the next 10 years on decomissioning weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. After his success in getting Russia...

Milestone as Russia is finally admitted to G8
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, secured much of what he sought to accomplish at the G8 summit yesterday when Russia was accepted as a full member that would hold the summit in 2006.

Russia Puts Its Farmland on the Market
Russia stepped into the unfamiliar world of private farming when the lower house of parliament, the duma, passed legislation yesterday burying the era of communist collectivisation and creating a free market in farmland. The law regulating the sale of about 404m hectares (1bn acres) of...

Russian defector convicted in absentia
A former officer with Russia's internal security service currently living in exile in London was yesterday convicted of abuse of office at a trial in absentia in Moscow, and given a suspended sentence of three and a half years.

Russia prepares to show red card to 'extremist' louts
We won't be going to see Rammstein this week. The semi-acceptable faces of German neo-Nazi rock were due to storm the Tushino airfield on the capital's fringe next Wednesday.

Russians claim to have interviewed Mullah Omar
The vanished Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar says that Osama bin Laden is alive inside Afghanistan and has threatened further terror attacks on the US, according to a Russian weekly newspaper.

Fishermen's foe pays with his life in Russia's poaching war
The head of the coast guard on the far east Russian island of Sakhalin woke to the sound of breaking glass and the smell of petrol. The "fish mafia" had come to get him.

Russia's Second Empire
Every ostensibly modern (or post-modern) phenomenon has roots and mirrors in history. The spreading of the occult, materialism, rationalism, positivism, ethnic cleansing, regionalism, municipal autonomy, environmentalism, alienation ("ennui"), information networking, globalization, anti-globalization, mass migration, capital and labour mobility, free trade - are all new mantras but very old phenomena.

EU and Russia Clash Over Baltic Enclave
Angry Putin warns against ending visa-free transit when Kaliningrad's neighbours join union.

Russia and Nato Greet Arrival of a Warm Front
Russia was warmly received into Nato's embrace yesterday as the cold war enemies finally buried the hatchet and began working together in a world transformed by terrorism. Watched by George Bush, Tony Blair and their host, Silvio Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin heaped praise on the Nato-Russia...

Russia Signs Historic Nato Accord
· Deal struck between old enemies
· Bush: 'two foes are now partners'
· Blair hints at Iraq action

Russian boy, 12, hired hitmen to kill his parents
Adopted child's brutal revenge stuns nation.

New Arms Pact Between Us and Russia
Yesterday's arms control pact between the US and Russia may herald a more dangerous world.

Russian Nuclear Dump Plan Attacked By Arctic Governor
Moscow denies claims that archipelago will be used for imported waste.

Russia Now Knows It Has No Option But to Join the West
Putin is Russia's first leader truly to accept the limits of its power.

A seat at the table for Russia
The main policy areas covered by the three documents agreed last night, establishing a new Nato-Russia Council of 20 equals, are:

Russia and Nato Reach Historic Deal
Russia and Nato, last night buried half a century of hostility by uniting in a common front that grants Moscow a full say in key areas of western alliance policy-making.

Parade Day Carnage Stuns Russia
A bomb exploded in the middle of a second world war victory parade in southern Russia yesterday, killing at least 34 people, including 12 children, and injuring more than 150. It was the worst such attack since the Chechen war began almost three years ago. President Vladimir Putin blamed...

Russia Claims to Have Killed Arab Warlord in Chechnya
The Arab warlord Khattab, the most formidable Islamist guerrilla leader in the war in Chechnya, who is believed to be an associate of Osama bin Laden, has been killed, the internal security service FSB said yesterday. Its spokesman, General Alexander Zdanovich, said he was killed last...

Oiling the Wheels of Russian Recovery
Western oil companies have rediscovered their appetite for investing in Russia as the economic climate improves, writes Mark Tran.

Russians Celebrate the Rites, and Wrongs, of Spring
Capital letters: Igor Stravinsky, the great Russian iconoclast, was not thinking of the lame cats, the ubiquitous traffic cops, forced labour, vodka in the park, and bossy matrons when he shocked the world with the savage rhythms of his Rites of Spring, writes Ian Traynor in Moscow.

BP and Shell Fuel Rush to Invest in Russia
Confidence in the future of Russia was underlined yesterday with BP investing $380m (£264m) to increase its holding in local oil group Sidanco and Shell saying it was interested in new projects there.

Russia relaxes opposition to Nato
The Kremlin's objections to Nato's predatory plans have fallen silent just as the western alliance is poised for its biggest expansion to date, says Ian Traynor

Moscow Claims Irrefutable Proof of Us Spying in Russia
President Vladimir Putin's ambition to make Russia a strategic ally of the US suffered a setback yesterday when his security service accused two US diplomats of spying. The FSB announced that it had thwarted a CIA plot to obtain Russian defence secrets and confidential information on...

Russian Mobsters Tighten Their Grip on La
Four bodies pulled from a reservoir in California are believed to be the latest victims of a huge organised crime network run by mobsters from the former Soviet Union.

Russian court lifts Salvation Army ban
Russia's supreme court struck a blow yesterday for religious freedom when it overturned rulings banning the Salvation Army from operating as a charity and a religious organisation.

Russia angry at US war plan for Georgia
Security officials from the state of Georgia are worried that American and British forces may attack suspected Islamist terrorists near the Russian border.

War reporter falls victim to Russian smear campaign
A crusading Russian journalist who focuses on exposing human rights abuses in the war in Chechnya has become the target of a smear campaign by Russian intelligence.

Russia Breaks Pledge to Cut Oil Production
Russia increased oil production in January by 60,000 barrels a day from December despite a pledge to cut production to bolster sagging oil prices, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today. In another sign that Russia's agreement with the Opec oil cartel to curtail production is...

Russians Told to Respect Pact
A senior Middle East oil minister warned yesterday of a price collapse unless producers stick to an agreement to rein back output. Slower economic growth and a warm winter in markets in North America and Asia have depressed demand and led to concerns that a fragile pact between Opec and...

Russia edgy at spread of US bases in its backyard
The US military build-up in the former Soviet republics of central Asia is raising fears in Moscow that Washington is exploiting the Afghan war to establish a permanent, armed foothold in the region. The swift construction of US military bases is also likely to ring alarm bells in...

Russia signals support for widening of war on terror
Russia yesterday signalled for the first time that it could support an expansion of Washington's war on terrorism beyond Afghanistan. Sergei Ivanov, the Russian defence minister, made it plain that the price for supporting US strikes on targets beyond Afghanistan was that Russia be...

Russia puts a brave face on US treaty snub
A humiliated Kremlin reacted more in sorrow than in anger last night to President George Bush's decision, for the first time in the nuclear era, to scrap an international treaty unilaterally. Told last Friday of the impending US action, President Vladimir Putin bowed to the inevitable...

Russian Tsar's Erotic Letters to Young Mistress Auctioned
Yesterday some 22 unpublished erotic letters written by Tsar Alexander II to the woman he simply called 'Katia' - and by her to him - were auctioned in Paris.