18:56
RELEASE OF TWO RUSSIAN ENTOMOLOGISTS, ARRESTED IN INDIA FOR ILLICIT CATCHING OF INSECTS
Two Russian entomologists arrested in Sikkim, India, for illicit catching of insects have been released and the criminal case against them closed, said Russia's Consul General in Calcutta Alexei Zolotukhin on Sunday. More details...

14:29
KURSK SUB WRECKS TO BE VIEWED BY JOURNALISTS
The wrecked Kursk nuclear-powered submarine will be shown to journalists, said Vyacheslav Popov, commander of the Russian Northern fleet, at a recent press conference. It was held at the press center of the international Kursk rescue task force. More details...

14:12
RUSSIA'S NAVY TO GET NEW NUCLEAR SUBMARINE, GEPARD
A new nuclear-powered submarine, Gepard, will enter the inventories of the Russian Navy, said Vyacheslav Popov, commander of the Russian Northern fleet, at a press conference Sunday. More details...

13:01
KURSK DEATH SITE STILL OUT-OF-LIMITS FOR NAVIGATION
The death site of the sunken Kursk nuclear submarine will still be closed for navigation, said Vyacheslav Popov, commander of the Northern fleet. He spoke at a Sunday news conference in Murmansk of the press center of the international Kursk rescue task force. More details...

17:33
IRINA PETRENKO: UKRAINE’S LATE APOLOGIES
Ukraine admitted that a missile S-200 could hit the Russian passenger airliner that was following the route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk. The head of the anti-missile defense troops admitted that the unpremeditated destruction of Tu-154 plane was a tragic accident More details...

11:04
CHEMICAL ATTACK PLANNED FOR FRANCE
The Italian anti-terrorist police foiled a plan to test a toxic chemical in France this week. More details...

18:41
STATE COMMISSION: TU-154 WAS DOWNED. FILE CLOSED?
The chairman of the state commission for investigating the reasons of the Russian Tu-154 plane crash (Sibir airlines), the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Vladimir Rushaylo announced the preliminary results of the commission’s investigation More details...

18:34
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO DENY THAT UKRAINIAN MISSILE SHOT DOWN RUSSIAN TU-154 PLANE
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has ordered the establishment of an interdepartmental commission to investigate all circumstances of the crash of Russia's Tu-154 passenger airliner which on October 4 fell into the Black Sea with 78 passengers on board, a spokesman for the Ukrainian president's administration said on Friday. More details...

18:24
3 TERROR ACTS THWARTED IN GROZNY OVER PAST 24 HOURS
Bomb disposal units prevented three terrorist acts in Grozny over the past 24 hours. Sources in the city military commandant's office disclosed a homemade explosive device made of two artillery shells and a hand grenade was found near a church. The bomb was safely detonated on site. More details...

17:22
UKRAINE AGREES THAT UKRAINIAN MISSILE STRIKE MAY HAVE CAUSED TU-154 CRASH
Ukraine has agreed with the preliminary conclusion that a strike of an S-200 missile during the Ukrainian air defense exercises might have caused the crash of the Tu-154 airplane. More details...

16:38
PRESIDENTIAL AIDE ACCUSES MASKHADOV AND CRITICIZES SHEVARDNADZE
Presidential aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky declared on Friday that there was no point in Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov pleading that there were no Chechen gunmen or bases on Georgian territory. The aide stressed that Maskhadov, when accusing Russia of aggravating the situation in Abkhazia, was resorting to his often-used Nazi propaganda methods of "'the worse the lie, the easier it is to believe.'" Yastrzhembsky then turned his attention to the fact that Maskhadov had not stinted in his praise of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, who "knowing Russia well, [and] her politics, has conducted himself very intelligently." He pointed out that Maskhadov and Shevardnadze had pursued the same line when criticizing Russia. "This, obviously, is not coincidental," said Yastrzhembsky. More details...

16:34
TU-154 PLANE SHOT DOWN BY UKRAINIAN GROUND-TO-AIR MISSILE
The Russian passenger Tu-154 airliner crashed because it was hit by the payload of a Ukrainian ground-to-air missile. This conclusion of the state commission for investigating the causes of the crash was read out by its chairman, Russian Security Council Secretary Vladimir Rushailo. He underscored that the plane was flying in conformity with the flight plan from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk, following the international airway which did not fall under any restrictions imposed by Ukraine. More details...

16:29
STATE COMMISSION: TU-154 AIRPLANE HIT BY UKRAINIAN MISSILE
Chairman of the state commission to investigate causes of the crash of the Sibir Tu-154 airliner and Secretary of the Russian Security Council Vladimir Rushailo delivered the commission's preliminary conclusions at a press conference in Sochi. The commission believes that the Tu-154 crashed as a result of the airplane being hit by the payload of a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile. The crash occurred above the Black Sea. The plane was on route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk. More details...

15:25
MOSCOW INSISTS ON CAPITULATION OF CHECHEN SEPARATISTS
There is nothing authorities could negotiate with Chechen separatists except the laying down of arms and ways of including militants who never committed any grave crimes in the republic's civilian life, said President Putin's aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky, commenting on Radio Liberty's interview with ex-Chechen President, now a leader of Chechen separatists Aslan Maskhadov. More details...

15:13
DEMOLITION SPECIALIST DETAINED IN GROZNY
A member of a group of demolition specialists who have acting in Grozny has been detained in the Chechen capital, reported the provisional press-centre of the Russian Interior Ministry in Khankala on Friday. More details...

14:48
MURDER OF RUSSIAN INHABITANT OF GROZNY DISCLOSED
The police have disclosed the murder of a Russian 50-year-old inhabitant of Grozny. As the provisional press center of the Russian Interior Ministry in Khankala reported on Friday, the woman was killed this March in the Lenin district of Grozny. The murderer fired at the woman and disappeared. As a result of a special operation the murderer was detained. He is a militant from an armed band which is acting in Grozny. He admitted that he had killed the woman only because she was Russian. More details...

12:15
PONTOONS WILL NOT BE INSTALLED UNDER GIANT-4 WITH KURSK ATTACHED ON FRIDAY
The pontoons will not be installed under the Giant-4 barge with the Kursk submarine attached, on Friday, stated Chief of the press service at the Russian Northern Fleet Vladimir Navrotsky. More details...

11:40
YULIA BARKOVSKAYA: TERMS OF DOCKING KURSK POSTPONED AGAIN
Kursk lifting operation has been completed. This was stated on Wednesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Though, is this statement not too premature? The spokesman for the Northern Fleet, captain Vladimir Novrotski reported to RIA ‘Novosi’ the submarine had been separated from sea bottom on Monday, at 3.55 (Moscow Time). More details...

11:26
SEARCH FOR DEBRIS OF TU-154 JET IN PROGRESS
The area of the crash of Russia's Tu-154 jet is still being searched for victims' bodies and fragments of the aircraft. As of this moment, rescuers have scoured 68.6 million square meters of the Black Sea water area, reports the press service of the Russian emergencies ministry. More details...

11:06
HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE HIDDEN BEHIND VEIL OF AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan, impenetrable as the burqah which shields the faces of its womenfolk, is hiding a potential humanitarian catastrophe of gargantuan proportions. More details...

21:48
UKRAINE’S DEFENSE MINISTER WANTED TO RESIGN BECAUSE OF TU-154 PLANE CRASH. PRESIDENT DID NOT ACCEPT THE RESIGNATION
Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma declared on today’s press-conference in the city of Cherkassy that he did not accept Defense Minister Alexander Kuzmuk’s resignation (the Minister had such a request to dismiss him because of the accident with the Russian plane Tu-154) More details...

19:40
RUSSIAN PLANE WAS DOWNED. IT’S TIME THAT UKRAINE ADMIT IT
The commission for investigation of the reasons of Tu-154 plane crash is continuing its work in the Russian resort city of Sochi (Black Sea coast). More details...

18:25
MULTIPLE PERFORATIONS DISCOVERED IN TU-154 PLANE
The state commission of inquiry into circumstances of the catastrophe of the Tu-154 jetliner of the Sibir airline is holding a sitting in the mayoral office of Sochi. Now the office is the headquarters of a search-and-rescue operation More details...

18:07
CRIMEAN SPECIALIST BELIEVES UKRAINE'S MISSILE COULD HAVE DOWNED RUSSIA'S TU-154 PLANE
The Russian Tu-154 passenger airliner, which met with a fatal accident above the Black sea on October 4, could have been shot down by a C-200 missile during military exercises of the Ukrainian air defense More details...

15:56
KURSK'S DOCKING POSTPONED FOR NEXT WEEK
Kursk's installation into the dock located in the Roslyakovo village near Murmansk has been postponed for the next week. According to Chief of the press service at the Russian Northern Fleet Vladimir Navrotsky, this decision was made Thursday in the course of a session with participation of the Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Kuroyedov. More details...

14:52
PUMPING OUT OF WATER FROM KURSK IS PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
Experts of the Rubin Design Bureau believe that the pumping out of water from the Kursk nuclear submarine is one of the primary objectives. They state that the water should be removed from the sub's silos and reactor room. More details...

14:48
ADDITIONAL GAUGES INSTALLED ON KURSK HULL TO MONITOR RADIATION SITUATION
Additional gauges have been installed on the hull of the Kursk nuclear submarine, towed to Roslyakovo, to monitor the radiation situation, Captain 1st rank Igor Dygalo, assistant to the commander-in-chief of Russia's Navy, said on Thursday. More details...

14:30
RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY ARRIVES IN SOCHI
On Thursday, Russian Security Council Secretary, Chairman of a state commission investigating the reasons for the Tu-154 crash Vladimir Rushailo arrived from Bishkek in Sochi where the mentioned state commission is continuing its work. More details...

13:55
STATE FLAGS LOWERED IN ISRAEL IN MEMORY OF RUSSIAN TU-154 CRASH VICTIMS
October 11 was announced in Israel a day of national mourning in memory of the victims killed in the Tu-154 crash into the Black Sea. State flags were lowered at all state offices and the Israeli embassies abroad. On Thursday, the Knesset (parliament) will hold a special mourning session which will be addressed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, leader of the opposition Yossi Sarid, Parliamentary Speaker Avraham Burg and heads of the parliamentary factions. The session will also be attended by Russian Ambassador to Israel Mikhail Bogdanov. More details...

13:35
ONE PONTOON INSTALLED UNDER BARGE'S STARBOARD
A RIA Novosti correspondent reported that one of the pontoons had been installed under the starboard of the barge with the sub attached. Diving works under the barge's bow are currently in full swing. The Giant-4 barge is being located in front of the floating dock in the Roslyakovo village. Weather conditions are favourable: it is sunny, no sea swell, wind velocity is 2-3 mps. More details...