A Russian environmentalist says a rare Siberian tiger fitted with a radio-tracking collar by Vladimir Putin has vanished. Vladimir Krever of the World Wildlife Fund said Wednesday the satellite tracking device has been silent since mid-September, possibly due to battery failure, a broken collar or poachers. Russia's prime minister shot the five-year-old female tiger with a tranquilizer gun last year and helped place the transmitter around her neck. Visitors to his Web site have been able... Read Full Story
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday ordered a high-level probe into the recent prison death of a lawyer who fought for greater transparency in Russian business. Sergei Magnitsky, who died last week in a Moscow pretrial detention center, was arrested in November 2008 on tax-evasion accusations linked to his work with Hermitage Capital Management, once the largest investment fund in Russia. William Browder, the CEO of the London-based investment fund, has accused authorities of... Read Full Story
Russia and the United States are working to reach agreement on a new nuclear accord to replace the treaty which runs out next week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. "The current agreement expires on December 5. The presidents have given their delegations the task of doing everything to ensure a new agreement is ready by then," Lavrov said. It is up to US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to decide where and when it will be signed, Lavrov added... Read Full Story
Sochi residents deplored on Tuesday the manner in which their houses had been seized and destroyed under government orders as the Black Sea resort prepares for hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics. Several of them appeared at a press conference held here to publicise their complaints. "I was informed that the house in which I had lived in for 30 years was going to be destroyed," said 60-year-old retiree Valeri Rogatchov. "I refused to give my permission ... and at five o'clock in the morning of... Read Full Story
Eight soldiers died in a munitions blast Monday in central Russia, a defence ministry spokesman said, at the same arms depot where two died in a huge accidental weapons explosion 10 days earlier. "Eight soldiers died as the result of a munitions blast at the 31st arsenal of the Russian navy in Ulyanovsk," the defence ministry spokesman told AFP. Six of the men were contract soldiers and two were officers, the Interfax news agency reported, citing the defence ministry. It was the same... Read Full Story
President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday told Russian rights activists he would submit a new bill to parliament to encourage their work as he moved further to burnish his image as a liberal reformer. "A relevant bill has been prepared," Medvedev said as he received some of the country's top human rights activists at the Kremlin. "Today I am submitting it to the State Duma." During his annual address to the nation on November 12, Medvedev promised he would do more to encourage non-profit "socially... Read Full Story
A French navy ship of the type that Russia hopes to buy arrived Monday for a visit to St. Petersburg, fueling concern in Georgia and other ex-Soviet nations that it may be used to intimidate its neighbors. The Mistral amphibious assault ship, which is capable of carrying more than a dozen helicopters along with dozens of tanks and other armored vehicles, is fit for missions intended to project Russian power. It docked Monday on the Neva River, about 1 kilometer (just over half-a-mile) from... Read Full Story
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Saturday strongly backed President Dmitry Medvedev's call for radical economic modernization, in an apparent bid to smother talk of differences between the leaders. Medvedev had in a state-of-the-nation address on November 12 made his strongest call yet for Russia to end its dependence on oil exports and modernize its economy, in a speech some analysts saw as a challenge to Putin. "I am sure that this call reflects the mood of all of Russian society... Read Full Story
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to continue Russia's anti-crisis program as the economy moves out of one of the deepest recessions in post-Soviet history. Putin, speaking at a congress of his United Russia party in Russia's northern city of St Petersburg, said gross domestic product would decline by 8.0 to 8.5 percent in 2009. But the former Kremlin chief said Russia must fully restore pre-crisis levels of growth in two to three years and... Read Full Story
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced late Thursday a compromise deal with Ukraine on the thorny issue of gas supply, lessening the threat of multibillion-dollar fines that might cripple Ukraine's economy. Speaking after several hours of talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko, he said Russia had agreed to allow Ukraine to buy less gas next year and it would now be up to the two countries' energy companies to put that agreement in writing. "Gazprom and Naftogaz will... Read Full Story
