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...

18:28
PYOTR YERMILIN: THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT DECIDES TO SORT OUT FORMER USSR CITIZENS
Valentina Matvieynko, the vice-premier of the Russian Government, said that the executive power was going to attract intellectual resources from the neighboring countries. Matviyenko referred to the necessity of solving the Russian demographic problem More details...

17:49
VLADIMIR PUTIN AWARDED THE PRIZE OF THE FUND OF ORTHODOX PEOPLES' UNITY FOR 2001
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been awarded the prize "For outstanding activities in strengthening the unity of Orthodox peoples" for 2001. More details...

17:26
THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE WILL NOT OBJECT TO THE RESTORATION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN RUSSIA IF AN APPROPRIATE LAW IS PASSED
First Deputy Prosecutor General Yury Biryukov said that the Prosecutor General's Office would not object to the restoration of capital punishment in Russia if the State Duma (the Lower House of the Parliament) passed an appropriate law. More details...

16:01
THE RUSSIAN STATE DUMA HAS PASSED A LAW WHICH ALLOWS TO DESTROY CHEMICAL WEAPONS NOT OBLIGATORY IN THE PLACES OF THEIR STORAGE
The State Duma of Russia (the Lower House of the Parliament) has adopted in the third, final, reading the law which allows to destroy chemical weapons not obligatory in the place of their storage, as is provided for by the legislation now in force. More details...

15:24
PRESIDENT PUTIN MEETS ALEXY II IN THE KREMLIN
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II in the Kremlin Wednesday, the Kremlin press service said. No details have been reported so far. More details...

15:24
STATE TERRORISM PRACTICED AS COLUMBIAN GOVERNMENT BREAKS PEACE DEAL
The government of Columbia, led by President Andres Pastrana, refuses to respect the peace agreement signed with FARC, slandered by the USA as a “terrorist organization”. More details...

15:19
CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST BORIS BEREZOVSKY TO BE INVESTIGATED SEPARATELY BECAUSE HE IS NOT IN RUSSIA NOW
The criminal case against Boris Berezovsky will be investigated separately, because he is not in Russia now, Russia's first deputy prosecutor-general Yuri Biryukov said during parliamentary hearings on Wednesday. More details...

14:33
CRIMINAL CASES LAUNCHED BY RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE NOT SHORT-TERM
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office denies statements that the recently launched criminal cases against a number of officials are a short-term campaign. More details...

14:24
DUMA INVITED PM TO SPEAK ON GOVERNMENT'S MEASURES RELATED TO RUSSIA'S PARTICIPATION IN UN SUMMIT OF 2002
The State Duma (the lower house of parliament) has invited Chairman of the Government Mikhail Kasyanov to make a report on preparatory measures which the Cabinet is taking in view of Russia's participation in the UNO summit on stable development in 2002. More details...

13:49
FUNDS ALLOCATED TO REPAIR EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS DAMAGED BY NATURAL DISASTERS
Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree according to which funds are allocated from the Russian president's reserve in the last quarter of the year 2001 to repair Russian regions' educational establishments that suffered from natural disasters. The decree is aimed at improving social protection of children. More details...