The latest: Rice, Putin Discuss Freedom of Speech, Iranian Nuclear Program

21.10.2006
Rice, Putin Discuss Freedom of Speech, Iranian Nuclear Program
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday delivered a symbolic rebuke to Russia over shrinking press freedoms even as she courted President Vladimir Putin for help punishing Iran over its nuclear program.

21.10.2006
Putin Says Russian Blockade of Georgia Aimed at Avoiding Bloodshed
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued his sternest warning to Georgia so far, telling European Union leaders that Tbilisi was risking bloodshed by seeking to regain control over breakaway regions.

21.10.2006
Russian HR Activists Alarmed by Nationalists’ Plans to Hold Massive Rally in Moscow
Russia’s top human rights official and activists on Friday expressed alarm about plans to repeat last year’s ultranationalist march in which thousands of extremists shouting Nazi and nationalist slogans paraded in the center of Moscow .

21.10.2006
Thousands of Protestants Rally in Belarus to Protest Church Closure
About 1,000 parishioners of an evangelical Protestant church rallied Saturday to protest its possible closure by Belarus authorities.

21.10.2006
U.S. State Secretary Meets Editors, Son of Slain Russian Reporter
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday met the editors and son of Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya, a harsh critic of President Vladimir Putin gunned down this month by unknown assailants.

21.10.2006
Contender’s Murder Leads to Canceled Elections in Russia’s Far East
Electoral officials in Russia’s far east called off a weekend run-off election at the last minute on Saturday after both runners agreed to withdraw in the aftermath of the murder of another candidate.

21.10.2006
Kremlin Says Putin Made No Rape Jokes, Blames Translation
A Kremlin spokesman has said that Vladimir Putin’s recent joke about Israeli President’s sexual abilities was a bad translation and not an approval of rape.

21.10.2006
Reporters Without Borders Urge French Ministers to strip Putin of Legion of Honour
Reporters Without Borders today asked the French government to strip Russian leader Vladimir Putin of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour that President Chirac awarded him just one month ago.

21.10.2006
Russian Government Officials Charged With Transferring Classified Documents to TNK BP
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case against high-ranking members of the government staff, who disclosed classified information.