18:51
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT'S WIFE MEETS WITH DISABLED CHILDREN
On Thursday, the Russian president's wife, Lyudmila Putin, visited an exhibition arranged by the Krasnodar regional public organisation of incapacitated children and born invalids Inva-Studio. More details...

18:01
MOSCOW INTERESTED IN EARLY SETTLEMENT OF POLITICAL CRISIS IN GEORGIA - RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTY
Russia is interested in an early settlement of the political crisis in Georgia, the deputy head of the pro-government Unity faction in the lower house of the Russian parliament has said in a RIA Novosti interview. More details...

17:42
DUMA-FOREIGN MINISTRY JOINT GROUP TO LOOK INTO EFFECTS OF AFGHANISTAN HOSTILITIES
Deputies of the State Duma (the lower chamber of Russian parliament) will make part of a working group, set up jointly with the Russian Foreign Ministry, for analysing effects of the hostilities waged by the United States and Great Britain in Afghanistan. Dmitri Rogozin, chairman of Duma's international committee, said this to journalists on Friday after its sitting was over. More details...

17:36
RUSSIAN DEPUTY SAYS GEORGIA CANNOT RESOLVE DOMESTIC CRISIS WITHOUT SETTLING RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA
The political crisis in Georgia can hardly be resolved, if this country does not settle its relations with Russia, said Friday Vasily Iver, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma (Russian parliament's lower house) International Committee. More details...

17:34
RUSSIAN SENATOR BLAMES TBILISI FOR GEORGIAN CRISIS
The crisis facing Georgia is a consequence of inability of Georgian leaders to deal with vital problems in the country, Deputy Head of International Committee of the upper chamber of Russian Parliament Mikhail Margelov says. More details...

16:36
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE DUMA COMMITTEE FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BELIEVES THAT SHEVARDNADZE'S POLICY "HAS BECOME BANKRUPT"
The latest events in Georgia have shown that the policy of President Eduard Shevardnadze, who made Russia responsible for the failures of the Georgian leadership, has become bankrupt - chairman of the international committee of the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday in an interview given to the RIA Novosti correspondent. More details...

16:07
STATE DUMA SPEAKER VIEWS RECENT EVENTS IN GEORGIA AS A DEEP POLITICAL CRISIS
Georgia is in a deep political crisis, State Duma (lower house of parliament) Speaker Gennady Seleznyov, currently on an official visit in Slovakia, told a news conference. More details...

13:25
RUSSIA HAS NO BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS - DEFENCE MINISTRY
Russia has no biological weapons, the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defence Troops, Lieutenant-General Viktor Kholstov, has said. More details...

12:30
GOLOVLEV’S CASE: COURT WILL CLEAR UP THE SITUATION
“Oops!” as our friends over the ocean say. State Duma deputy from Union of Right Forces faction, deprived of deputy immunity, brings an action against the State Duma. More details...

10:06
MOSCOW RULES OUT PARTICIPATION OF THE TALIBAN IN THE FUTURE POWER STRUCTURES IN AFGHANISTAN
The future leadership in Kabul must represent all ethnic groups living in Afghanistan," but "no participation of the Taliban in the power structures is possible," Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov told reporters on Thursday in Washington after completing his negotiations with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. More details...

21:05
RUMSFELD/OMAR WAR OF WORDS HIDE THE TRUTH?
USA claims success, Taleban claim “real war” has not started, United States accused of using terrorism as an excuse to extend influence to this oil-rich region. More details...

19:43
VLADIMIR PUTIN EMPHASISES CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ROLE IN DEVELOPING EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS
Russian president Vladimir Putin assigns an essential role to the Constitutional Court in developing the common European standards of human rights observance. More details...

19:07
DMITRI LITVINOVICH: STATE MONOPOLY ON VODKA RETURNS TO RUSSIA
The epoch of the primary accumulation of capital has long been left behind in Russia. Today’s businessmen are different from those of hot money hunters of the early 1990s. Present-day businessmen do care about their image. The state also tries to catch up with business and wants to show the West a beautiful glossy wrapping in the form of assurances of business being liberalized and corruption being fought. More details...

18:05
THE STATE DUMA VOTED: TO WITHDRAW IMMUNITY FROM DEPUTY VLADIMIR GOLOVLEV
The Russian Federation State Duma (the parliament) voted to withdraw the deputy immunity from the Union of Rightist Forces faction member, deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee for budget and revenues, Vladimir Golovlev More details...

17:55
VLADIMIR PUTIN WARNS AGAINST DEFYING DECISIONS OF CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND OTHER SUPREME BODIES
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned against defying the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the supreme bodies as a whole. More details...

17:00
RUSSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CHAIRMAN URGES TO UPHOLD HUMAN RIGHTS IN ANTI-TERROR CAMPAIGN
Chairman Marat Baglai of Russia's Constitutional Court believes that the problem of human rights protection should be particularly addressed now that the international fight against terrorism has been intensified. More details...

16:50
VLADIMIR PUTIN FOR IMPROVING LEGISLATIVE BASE OF ANTI-TERRORIST FIGHT
Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken up for improving the legislative base of the anti-terrorist struggle. Modern terrorism "is not only a threat to peaceful human life. More details...

16:07
VICE-PREMIER OF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT ADVOCATES SOONEST POSSIBLE DETERMINATION OF MOSCOW'S STATUS
Valentina Matviyenko, vice-premier of the Russian government, deems it expedient to adopt a law determining the status of Russia's capital. Commenting on the tragic events near the metro station Tsaritsyno, where a group of militant rascals beaten Caucasian immigrants More details...

16:05
DUMA GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DEPUTY VLADIMIR GOLOVLYOV
Russia's State Duma has given the green light to the institution of criminal proceedings against deputy Vladimir Golovlyov of the Union of Right Forces faction. More details...

15:26
VLADIMIR PUTIN: RUSSIA HOPES FOR CONSTRUCTIVE COOPERATION WITH THE EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS COURT
Vladimir Putin spoke in favour of constructive cooperation between the Russian judicial system and the European Human Rights Court. More details...

15:01
PRESIDENT PUTIN: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT SIGNIFICANT FOR FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM
Russian President Vladimir Putin attaches great importance to the role of the Constitutional Court in the fight against terrorism. The Russian head of state said about it Thursday at a meeting with Constitutional Court chairmen from Europe the CIS. More details...

14:15
HEAD OF THE FEDERATION COUNCIL COMES OUT FOR CREATING A CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE VERTICAL
Chairman of the Federation Council Yegor Stroyev comes out for creating in Russia a constitutional justice vertical. He expressed this opinion on Thursday, when speaking at a session devoted to the 10th anniversary of the Russian Constitutional Court. More details...

13:24
SPACE DEFENCE BILL PREPARED FOR FIRST READING
The State Duma defence committee has prepared a bill "On the creation and use of space technology in the interests of defence and security." The bill defines the legal norms regulating the design, creation and use of space technology of military and dual-purpose to increase the effectiveness of the army and other military forces in war and peacetime. More details...

13:24
SPACE DEFENCE BILL PREPARED FOR FIRST READING
The State Duma defence committee has prepared a bill "On the creation and use of space technology in the interests of defence and security." The bill defines the legal norms regulating the design, creation and use of space technology of military and dual-purpose to increase the effectiveness of the army and other military forces in war and peacetime. More details...

12:18
DEFENCE MINISTER SAYS RUSSIAN TROOPS WILL NOT BE SENT TO AFGHANISTAN
Russian Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov has denied information of Pakistani media alleging that Russia is planning to send its military to Afghanistan. More details...

11:34
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: SOCIETY AND AUTHORITY SUPPORT CONSTITUTIONAL COURT INDEPENDENCE PRINCIPLE
The principle of independence and non-interference of the Constitutional Court in politics has been adopted and is supported by both society and authority, said the Russian president speaking Thursday in the Kremlin's Marble hall at a session devoted to the 10th anniversary of the Constitutional Court. More details...

11:07
PRIME MINISTER INVITED TO STATE DUMA TO SPEAK ON COUNTERACTING TERRORISM
The State Duma (Lower House of Parliament) has taken a decision to hold a closed plenary meeting and to invite to it Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and representatives of law-enforcement ministries. The parliamentarians intend to hear from them what is being done to counteract terrorism. More details...

11:04
VLADIMIR PUTIN SIGNS DECREE ON SETTING UP FINANCIAL MONITORING COMMITTEE
Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on creation of a financial monitoring committee. More details...

20:37
SWORD OF DAMOCLES IN AUDIT CHAMBER’S HANDS
When reforms “from the top” fail, they are conducted “from the bottom.” The president has been waiting for half a year for the prime minister to supply him with a coherent concept of the governmental reform. The president’s expectations have proved futile. Mikhail Kasyanov, an experienced apparatchik, seems to have nearly succeeded in burying the idea under the red tape. More details...

20:25
STATE DUMA REFUSES TO LIFT IMMUNITY FROM ITS DEPUTY BUT MAY TAKE UP THIS QUESTION AGAIN
The Russian State Duma, or the lower parliamentary house, refused, Wednesday, to strip Vladimir Golovlev, of the Union of Right Forces faction, of his parliamentary immunity. More details...