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A rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly...
A rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will pay a visit to Moscow next week to study the implementation of Strasbourg Court rulings.
A remembrance train carrying World War II...
A remembrance train carrying World War II veterans and young people will depart on Monday from Russia"s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad and head to Russia"s Smolensk and Belarus"s Brest as part of WWII commemorations, the Kaliningrad region"s government spokesman has said.
Around 30 avalanches have come down on the...
Around 30 avalanches have come down on the Transcaucasian highway, cutting off the only direct road between Russia and South Ossetia, a spokeswoman for North Ossetia"s emergencies ministry said on Tuesday.
A Russian carrier rocket put a U.S. telecommunications...
A Russian carrier rocket put a U.S. telecommunications satellite into orbit on Sunday morning, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said.
A Thai worker has been killed by a Palestinian...
A Thai worker has been killed by a Palestinian rocket attack in southern Israel, an emergency service source said.
At least 35 people have been killed and...
At least 35 people have been killed and 47 wounded when a series of explosions described by the Taliban as a message to NATO hit Afghanistan"s southern Kandahar province, CNN has reported.
At least nine people died and five were...
At least nine people died and five were injured when a fire broke out on board a Greek-flagged cargo vessel off Venezuela"s coast, the Voice of America said.
Belarus will pay around $168 per 1,000 cubic...
Belarus will pay around $168 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian natural gas in the first quarter of 2010, 11% more than the average price of $150 for 2009, the Gazprom CEO said on Wednesday.
Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend...
Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend World War Two Victory Day celebrations in Moscow on May 9, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday.
Eyewitness of the two explosions on the...
Eyewitness of the two explosions on the Moscow metro this morning have described the chaos that ensued after the blasts.
GROZNY, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Chechen...
GROZNY, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has called allegations that he was responsible for the murder of human rights activist Natalya Estemirova "unethical."
GROZNY, September 9 (RIA Novosti) - Chechen...
GROZNY, September 9 (RIA Novosti) - Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has held talks with the Council of Europe"s commissioner for human rights, the presidential press service said on Wednesday.
Iran currently has no missiles capable of...
Iran currently has no missiles capable of striking Europe and the U.S., Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
It is impossible to ensure 100% security...
It is impossible to ensure 100% security for the pope without erecting a barrier between him and believers, the Vatican spokesman said after an attack at Benedict XVI on Thursday night.
KIEV, July 14 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine welcomed...
KIEV, July 14 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine welcomed the launch of the Nabucco gas pipeline project intended to pump gas to Europe bypassing Russia and said it was ready to join, a deputy head of the Ukrainian president"s secretariat said on Tuesday.
KIEV, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - Patriarch...
KIEV, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko laid wreaths at the memorial of 1932-33 famine victims in Kiev on Monday.
Kommersant, Novye Izvestia
Kommersant, Novye Izvestia
MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev posted his first live blog on the LiveJournal.com website on Wednesday on the theme of the Internet.
MOSCOW, April 30 (RIA Novosti) - An Australian...
MOSCOW, April 30 (RIA Novosti) - An Australian politician has admitted to undergoing "excruciatingly painful" surgery in a Russian clinic to increase her height. Hajnal Ban, a councilor in the state of Queensland, was forced to admit to the operation after The Courier Mail identified her on Tuesday as the author of a book, written several years ago under a pseudonym, entitled "God Made Me Small, Surgery Made Me Tall". Israeli-born Ban, 31, travelled to the west Siberian city of Kurgan eight years ago for the $40,000 operation, which lasted nine months and raised her height from 154 cm (5 ft 1) to 162 cm (5 ft 4). Doctors at the Ilizarov Scientific Centre for Restorative Traumatology and Orthopaedics broke her legs in four places, and extended the bones at a rate of 1 mm per day. The grueling procedure involves sticking steel pins into the bones, fixing them to metal frames around the legs, and rotating screws each day to stretch the bones apart. The operation involves severe pain, and a constant risk of infection. Many clinics refuse to carry out the operation on purely cosmetic grounds, due to the high risks involved. Several Russian celebrities are known to have had leg-extending operations at the Siberian center, including the pop singer Vika Tsyganova. Ban complained to the Brisbane Times of constant media harassment since the story emerged. "Media are camping outside my mother"s house so I"m just in hiding at the moment," the Logan City councilor told the paper. "This is purely a personal matter. I don"t know what all the fuss is about. I just want this to go away," she said. Describing her experience in Russia to British newspaper The Times, she said: "From the time I flew to Russia to the time I was able to wear high heels again was about a year in total, but at least nine months of that was excruciatingly painful." Ban wrote her book under the pseudonym Sara Vornamen, five years before unsuccessfully standing for election in the 2007 federal polls. "I chose to go under a pseudonym because it"s a private decision and I didn"t want to be ostracized," the Courier Mail quoted her as saying. Explaining her decision to undergo the drastic surgery, she said that at school she had been called a "midget", and that in adult life she felt her short stature was harming her credibility. "I get tired of people focusing on the physical side of me because I feel like I have a lot to offer and I"m a qualified lawyer. I"m educated and I think people don"t tend to focus on that," she told the paper. The Brisbane Times, however, said that although Ban "claims to be a barrister," she is "not listed with the Bar Association of Queensland."
MOSCOW, December 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
MOSCOW, December 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, 36, has been awarded the 2008 Musician of the Year by one of the world's most prestigious music editions.
MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti) -One woman...
MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti) -One woman died in a fire in a wooden house belonging to a Russian convent in Barvikha, a few miles west of Moscow, late on Tuesday, church and emergencies officials said on Wednesday.
MOSCOW, December 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's...
MOSCOW, December 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's president said Thursday he had signed a package of anti-corruption laws.
MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Zenit St...
MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Zenit St. Petersburg are speaking to former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson about him taking over the side when Dick Advocaat quits at the end of the year, the Fontanka paper said on Friday.
MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law to regulate the production and turnover of ethyl alcohol and alcoholic products, the presidential press service said Friday. The State Duma, parliament"s lower house, adopted the law on July 8 and the Federation Council, parliament"s upper house, adopted it on July 13. The law aims to improve the legal regulation of this area of the economy, strengthen state control and protect consumers from black-market products. The law expands the authorities of the federal bodies of state power. Under the law, they will introduce a unified state automated system to calculate the volumes of produced and sold ethyl alcohol and alcoholic products. If there is no information in the system about certain products, the products will be confiscated. Authorities will also be charged with defining the procedure to license alcohol retail sales and ensuring that organizations observe license rules. The law states that state enterprises and organizations with paid-in equity capital worth no less than 10 million rubles, or $349,650, can produce ethyl alcohol, while state enterprises and organizations with paid-in equity capital worth no less than 50 million rubles, or $1.75 million, can produce vodka. Putin spoke in Kaliningrad on July 2 at a State Council session. He criticized the current alcohol market regulation system and advocated a state monopoly on alcohol.
MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - A comprehensive...
MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - A comprehensive rearmament of Russia's Armed Forces will begin in 2011, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.
MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Olympic Committee head Leonid Tyagachev resigned on Wednesday, two days after President Dmitry Medvedev said senior sports officials should quit over the country"s poor showing at the Winter Olympics, the committee"s press chief said.
MOSCOW, May 7 (RIA Novosti) - Chelsea FC...
MOSCOW, May 7 (RIA Novosti) - Chelsea FC coach Guus Hiddink has reacted furiously to a series of controversial refereeing decisions that saw Barcelona escape several penalty appeals, to edge past Chelsea in the Champions League semifinals. Michael Essien"s 9th minute goal looked enough to put Chelsea, who dominated most of Wednesday"s game, through to their second Champions League final in a row, but in the dying moments of extra time Andres Iniesta scored a stunner to level the score at 1-1 and put the home side out on the away-goals rule. In a post-match interview, Hiddink said: "Players make many mistakes, coaches make mistakes, referees make mistakes. But if you have seen three or four situations waved away, then his was the worst I have seen." He said that Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo"s failure to call any of the penalty decisions in Chelsea"s favor left him with a feeling "of being robbed and one of injustice." Barcelona, who were reduced to 10 men, barely challenged Chelsea throughout the game, and Hiddink admitted that the west London side had been punished for their failure to take advantage of the possession. "We had two or three open chances and we should have taken them and then we wouldn"t have this fuss about not just one penalty, but three or four," he said. Hiddink has transformed Chelsea since taking over at the club on February 11. As well as reaching the semifinal of Europe"s most prestigious club competition, the side, owned by Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, have already booked a place in the FA Cup final on May 30. Barcelona will now face Manchester United, who are attempting to become the first football club to retain the Champions League title, in Rome on May 27.
MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Dutch...
MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti) - Dutch trainer Dick Advocaat, dismissed by Zenit St. Petersburg in August, could take over from Guus Hiddink as coach of the Russian national side, a Russian sports newspaper said.
MOSCOW, November 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
MOSCOW, November 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russian prosecutors have brought new charges of large-scale fraud against fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, the General Prosecutor's Office said on its website on Tuesday.
MOSCOW, November 27 (RIA Novosti) - A dozen...
MOSCOW, November 27 (RIA Novosti) - A dozen race-hate youth groups have been uncovered in Russia's two largest cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in the Moscow Region in 2008, an Interior Ministry official said on Thursday.
MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - About...
MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) - About 6,100 people have died from swine flu worldwide, with the total number of officially confirmed cases exceeding 482,000 in 199 countries, the World Health Organization has reported.
MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev along with other leaders of the CSTO member states will attend on Friday the final stage of a post-Soviet rapid reaction force exercise in Kazakhstan.
MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet on October 20 with the Indian foreign minister, during the diplomat"s visit to Moscow, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian...
MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Prosecutor"s Office has rejected an application by the head of the Russian Imperial House to reopen a criminal case into the murder of the country"s last tsar, a lawyer said on Tuesday.
MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has instructed the government to conduct negotiations with Kyrgyzstan on rental payment for Russian military facilities in the Central Asian country in 2009.
MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) - Former...
MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) - Former Russian deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov said on Friday he is "pleased" to be sued by Yelena Baturina, the wife of Moscow"s mayor and the richest woman in Russia.
MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian...
MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, banned from entry into the U.S. over alleged links to organized crime, visited the country this year under an FBI arrangement, the Wall Street Journal said Friday.
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator...
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Mikhail Belov) - The next two months will see several "premieres" from the auto industry since three foreign car assembly plants will open in Russia in a row.
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political analyst Dmitry...
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political analyst Dmitry Kosyrev) - In his first State-of-the-Union address U.S. president Barack Obama used his most powerful weapon, the gift of eloquence. Reporting on it, the Washington Post wrote that "the president came on strong, breathing fire before the assembled members of the House and Senate."
MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - Alcohol...
MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - Alcohol consumption in Russia is more than double the critical level set by the World Health Organization, the interior minister said on Thursday.
MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - A U.S...
MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - A U.S. Congressman has asked the National Basketball Association to look into a $200-million deal involving Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov buying a 80% stake in the New Jersey Nets, PolitickerNJ news website said.
MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - The...
MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian automotive industry is to receive $2 billion in foreign investments within the next two or three years, but experts warn current policy may put it at risk, a respected business daily reported Wednesday. Vedomosti wrote that Trade and Economic Development Minister German Gref believed that the automotive industry was thriving because of a decision to reduce import duties on foreign car parts. He said four investors were ready to sign investment agreements and another six were in negotiations. A ministerial official said Gref was referring to investment agreements with the Avtoframos Russian-French joint venture, and Severstal-Avto and IzhAvto, which both produce South Korean cars. Overall investment now respectively total 230 million euros, $75 million and $90 million. Toyota has already started building a plant in Russia and will also sign a similar agreement soon. Gref estimated this investment at $1 billion this spring, the paper said. Vedomosti quoted Yelena Sakhnova, a market watcher with the United Financial Group, as saying that carmakers were planning to earn more on foreign, rather than Russian, models. "For instance, EBITDA at AvtoVaz (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) totals 10.4%, whereas companies assembling foreign cars in Russia earn at least 15%," Sakhnova said. According to the paper, easy-term customs clearance makes this business even more profitable. IzhAvto earned just $4 million in 2004. By assembling KIA Spectras, it hopes to make $200 million in net profits in five years. Since 2002, $1.15 billion has been invested into foreign-car assembly projects in Russia. A partnership between American giant General Motors and domestic producer Avtovaz had invested $338 million by the time it opened a plant and then pumped in another $195 million, the paper reported. The paper said that experts had warned about potential risks with the government"s current auto-industry policies. Alexander Agibalov, the managing director of AG Capital, told the paper: "China once had big tax breaks, but the policy created large concerns and one-day companies. The latter used the privileges they were entitled to and then curtailed production. The problem is knock-down assembly does not require major investment."
MOSCOW. (Viktor Danilov-Danilyan for RIA...
MOSCOW. (Viktor Danilov-Danilyan for RIA Novosti) Two years have passed since the Kyoto Protocol (KP) went into force. A total of 150 nations have ratified this extraordinary international document.
Ninety passengers and crew are feared dead...
Ninety passengers and crew are feared dead after an Ethiopian Boeing-737 airliner crashed off the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon shortly after takeoff in the early hours of Monday.
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, September 11 (RIA Novosti)...
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - The head of Russia"s Orthodox Church said on Friday that Russia needed nuclear weapons.
Over 11,000 people are reported to be members...
Over 11,000 people are reported to be members of mafia-type criminal groups across Russia, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
Police have detained suspects accused of...
Police have detained suspects accused of organizing the March 29 Moscow metro suicide attacks, a law enforcement source said on Friday.
Residents in the Urals city of Perm are...
Residents in the Urals city of Perm are bringing flowers on Sunday to the scene of a deadly nightclub fire that killed at least 112 and injured over 120 people.
Russia and China still call for a diplomatic...
Russia and China still call for a diplomatic solution of Iran"s nuclear issue, which has been in the center of international attention due to Islamic republic"s continuing nuclear developments.
Russia and India could reach an annual trade...
Russia and India could reach an annual trade of $10 billion in 2010, the Kremlin said Sunday.
Russia and the United States have synchronized...
Russia and the United States have synchronized all the documents on a new strategic arms pact, which could be signed in Prague, a Kremlin source said on Wednesday.
Russia has failed on Thursday to sign a...
Russia has failed on Thursday to sign a deal on oil deliveries to Belarus, citing "a lack of directives and authority" on the behalf of the Belarusian delegation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed...
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed the hope on Tuesday that Ukraine"s next president will not play politics with relations between Kiev and Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will...
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will discuss the the Nagorny Karabakh issue during his two-day visit to Armenia that kicks off Wednesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will...
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Kazakhstan on Sunday to discuss Russian-Kazakh bilateral ties and cooperation in the international area with former Soviet state"s top officials.
Russian mobile network provider Mobile TeleSystems...
Russian mobile network provider Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) pledged on Monday to return money to its subscribers for text messages sent following the deadly bomb attacks in the Moscow subway, its PR director said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his...
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan have discussed a wide range of issues in the sphere of bilateral cooperation, a Russian presidential aide said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent...
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent New Year greetings to U.S. President Barack Obama, welcoming the improvement in relations with the United States over the past year, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met on...
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met on Monday with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych, who is on a private visit to Moscow, for the second time in five weeks.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held...
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with Kyrgyz opposition-nominated premier Roza Otunbayeva on Thursday, his spokesman said.
Russia should continue its efforts to turn...
Russia should continue its efforts to turn Moscow into a global financial center, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.
Russia"s new short-range gun and missile...
Russia"s new short-range gun and missile air defense systems will take part in a Victory Day parade on Red Square in Moscow on May 9, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
Russia"s new Topol M missile system will...
Russia"s new Topol M missile system will for the first time be shown at the Victory Day parade on May 9 on Moscow"s Red Square, a spokesman for the Strategic Missile Forces said.
Sales of alcohol fell by 15% in Russia in...
Sales of alcohol fell by 15% in Russia in the first nine months of 2009 compared to the same period last year.
Somali pirates have taken the U.K.-flagged...
Somali pirates have taken the U.K.-flagged Asian Glory vehicle carrier with 25 crew members, including 10 Ukrainians, to a port in Somalia, the European Union Naval Force Somalia said on its website on Tuesday.
The administration of Russian President...
The administration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has invited Poland"s general Wojciech Jaruzelski to the 65th anniversary celebrations of the end of World War II, the Polish Radio Foreign Service reported on Saturday.
The Arabic edition of the Moscow News, Anbaa...
The Arabic edition of the Moscow News, Anbaa Mosku, re-launched three months ago after a 17-year break, is being extensively read across the Middle East, the MENAFN news agency reported on Monday.
The death toll in Sunday"s blasts in the...
The death toll in Sunday"s blasts in the Iraqi capital has exceeded 40, officials said.
The desperate residents of a disputed village...
The desperate residents of a disputed village within the confines of Moscow said they would go to the U.S. or German embassy on Wednesday to ask them for help in the fight for their homes.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church...
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church on Thursday blessed the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych in an unusual demonstration of the new Ukrainian leader"s close ties with Russia.
The new Russia-U.S. strategic arms reduction...
The new Russia-U.S. strategic arms reduction treaty stipulates that the two states reduce their nuclear arsenals to the agreed levels in seven years, the chief of the Russian General Staff said on Friday.
The officials responsible for the preparation...
The officials responsible for the preparation of Russia"s Winter Olympic team must submit their resignations, the Russian president said on Monday.
The prime minister of Poland will on Wednesday...
The prime minister of Poland will on Wednesday provide full information on the first stage of the investigation into a recent air crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski, a government spokesman said.
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party will...
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party will propose amendments to Russian law introducing criminal punishment for attempts to rehabilitate Nazism, a lawmaker involved in the initiative has said.
The return of religious relics to the Russian...
The return of religious relics to the Russian Orthodox Church will lead to their loss, Yelena Gagarina, who heads the Kremlin Museum complex, said on Thursday.
The Russian and Guatemalan presidents will...
The Russian and Guatemalan presidents will discuss the expansion of economic ties, antidrug efforts and other issues on Monday, a Kremlin source said Sunday.
The Russian Defense Ministry plans to spend...
The Russian Defense Ministry plans to spend around 24 billion rubles ($790 million) on drills and exercises involving all braches of service, the chief of the General Staff said on Thursday.
The Ukrainian authorities will not ban Victory...
The Ukrainian authorities will not ban Victory Day parades by veterans of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which fought on the side of the Nazis in World War II, a deputy prime minister said on Wednesday.
Thousands of Russian St. George ribbons...
Thousands of Russian St. George ribbons will be distributed across the world starting from Thursday to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II.
Two explosions rocked the Moscow metro on...
Two explosions rocked the Moscow metro on Monday morning, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens more, according to official sources. Spokesmen for law enforcement agencies described them as a carefully planned terrorist attack.
WINDHOEK, June 25 (RIA Novosti) - The creation...
WINDHOEK, June 25 (RIA Novosti) - The creation of a U.S. transit center in Kyrgyzstan will contribute to the fight against international terrorism, the Russian president said on Thursday.
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