The latest: Russia’s Putin Avoids Scraps With U.S. But Warns Washington Over Iran

10.05.2006
Russia’s Putin Avoids Scraps With U.S. But Warns Washington Over Iran
President Vladimir Putin chose to ignore recent stinging criticism from Washington in his keynote speech, delivered Wednesday, focusing instead on domestic problems. On Iran, Putin also sidestepped open criticism making only a veiled warning to the U.S. not to take military action against Iran.

10.05.2006
Controversial Kyrgyz Opposition Candidate Shot Dead
The brother of a prominent Kyrgyz lawmaker killed during a prison riot in 2005 has been murdered.

10.05.2006
Two National Bolsheviks Sentenced to Imprisonment for Posting a Banner With Antigovernment Slogans
A Moscow court convicted two activists of the radical National Bolshevik party of hooliganism and damaging state property for a flamboyant antigovernment protest earlier this month

10.05.2006
NATO-Russia Rally to Highlight Security Cooperation Starts Today
Representatives from NATO’s 26 member countries will take part in the NATO-Russia Rally 2006: What Binds Us Together, a two-week, 12,000-kilometer tour across Russia to highlight a new era of security cooperation between the former Cold War adversaries.

10.05.2006
U.S. Court Sentences Ukrainian Hacker to 3 Years for Pirating Software
A U.S. court has sentenced Ukrainian hacker Maxim Vysochansky to three years behind bars for pirating software.

10.05.2006
Chechen Schoolgirl Awarded Apartment, $10,000 for Poem About Murdered President
A schoolgirl from Chechnya’s capital Grozny has been awarded an apartment and $10,000 for writing a poem in memory of former Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov.

10.05.2006
Russian Businessman Wants to Set Up Jewish Lobby
A Russian businessman,Viatcheslav Kantor, an agrochemical magnate who chairs the 100-member Russian Jewish Congress, was in America this week to discuss strengthening Russia’s Jewish lobby. He wants to turn wealthy Russian Jews into a major political and philanthropic force.

10.05.2006
Russian TV Channel Starts Screening of Dr Zhivago Mini Series
The first Russian screen adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s classic novel Dr Zhivago has just been made for television. The first part of an eleven-part series will be screened this week. Reporters from The Scotsman have already called the new screen adaptation of the classic novel a sign of “Russian cultural renaissance”.

10.05.2006
Russia Wins Seat on UN Human Rights Council
Russia has won a seat on the UN’s first Human Rights Council, along with Cuba, China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, much to the surprise of rights groups who consider these five countries unworthy of membership because of their own records of abuse and repression.

10.05.2006
Klebnikov’s Murderers Still At Large
Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Russia Magazine who exposed the workings of the country’s shadowy billionaire tycoons, was killed outside his Moscow office in 2004. A 41-year-old New Yorker of Russian descent, he was struck several times by shots fired from a passing car. Those who ordered and those who carried out his killing remain at large.

10.05.2006
Russia’s Putin Calls For Measures to Boost Birth Rate
President Vladimir Putin called Wednesday for Russia to focus on investment and innovation, so that it can take its proper place in the world economy, as well as to implement new welfare measures to stem the nation’s disastrous demographic decline. “We must at least stimulate the birth of a second child,” Putin said.

10.05.2006
Russia For Contact With Hamas — FM
Russia is in favour of constant contact with the radical Palestinian Islamic group Hamas, and against its isolation, the Russian foreign minister has said.

10.05.2006
Putin to Make His Seventh State-of-the-Nation Address
The exact contents of the speech are being kept secret until he delivers the address, but it is expected to place more emphasis on foreign policy than in previous years. It is also thought that energy security will be one of the key themes of Putin’s report.

10.05.2006
Chechen Separatist Website Back Up
A Chechen separatist website closed by Swedish prosecutors is operating once again.

10.05.2006
New Earthquake Hits Russia’s Far East
An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale rocked the northern part of the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s Far East early Wednesday.

10.05.2006
Son of Slain Chechen President Says Father Victim of Foreign Conspiracy
Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov believes that the May 2004 terrorist attack in Grozny, in which his father, the first president of Chechnya Akhmat Kadyrov was killed, was financed from abroad.