In his statement at the high-level plenary meeting of the 60th UN General Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about "the split of civilizations" and the need to overcome it. He used the phrase in the context of "coordinating international cooperation in the fight against terrorism . . .

An appeal by ex-YUKOS chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky and business partner and head of Menatep, Platon Lebedev, began in the Moscow City Court today. They had been sentenced to nine years in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion. The defense had asked the court to overturn the verdict . . .

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair at the 60th anniversary summit of the UN General Assembly to discuss cooperation in fighting international terrorism. The Russian leader also thanked Blair for the efficient preparations for the Russia-EU summit. . .

“The government’s goal is to form a powerful anti-oligarchic coalition by 2008 and prevent a state coup,” Sergei Markov, director of Political Studies Institute, told reporters on Tuesday.

President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that he will not run for the Russian presidency in 2008. At a Kremlin meeting with the Russian president, foreign political scientists and analysts asked Putin if he could give a definite answer . . .

The Russian government will not be reshuffled, Russian President Vladimir Putin has told journalists speaking on the board of Peter the Great guided missile cruiser in the Barents Sea. Putin believes that nothing changes better for the country with personnel shifts, Mayak radio reported. According to Putin . . .

In a bizarre development, Russian government is offering forgiveness that no one has sought. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin is dangling an amnesty in front of tax evaders without having the stick to enforce taxes. After the mess of monetization earlier in the year, the latest plans show that the finance minister . . .

President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Education Ministry and the Russian Academy of Sciences to create favorable conditions for the development of research and education. At a meeting with Yuri Osipov, the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Education and Science Minister . . .

ICT, the St. Petersburg-based holding of Alexander Nesis, has sold control of the Baltic Plant, its principal maritime industry asset and St.Petersburg's leading civil shipbuilder, for less than $100 million. The move, which was not revealed during interviews last week with ICT spokesman, Anton Laptev . . .

The rescued Russian submariners hope to thank personally their British rescuers. The submariners who are currently in a military hospital failed to meet their British rescuers after the rescue effort, although they waited for them in the hospital and even prepared their fleet caps to give as a present. . .

The Russian government approved in general a Finance Ministry proposal tax amnesty at a government session, a spokesman said Thursday. The proposal envisages a simplified scheme allowing individuals to declare incomes gained before January 1, 2005 and pay any . . .

The political winds in Kiev appear to be blowing against foreign company bidders, notably the Russian Evraz group, in the list of qualifications for the new privatization of the Krivorozhstal steel plant, reported in the Ukrainian press yesterday. Krivorozhstal turns out about 7 million tons of steel products . . .

Russia ranks sixth on its GDP growth (value of goods and services produced in key industries) of 5.1 percent in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the first half of 2005, the Interstate Statistical Committee of the CIS has reported. As of the end of 2004, Russia shared ninth position with Kyrgyzstan . . .

The Russian Ministry refuted media reports Tuesday that a Russian at the center of a UN corruption scandal worked for the ministry. "Alexander Yakovlev does not and did not work at the Russian Foreign Ministry," the ministry's press department said in response to a report . . .

The world's biggest natural gas producer, Russia’s Gazprom, has demanded that the Lithuanian government abolishes regulated of natural gas prices for industrial consumers. The decision followed the Lithuanian state commission on prices and energy to lower prices . . .

Russian defense minister Sergey Ivanov has decided to buy two remote-controlled Scorpio mini-subs for the country's navy, NTV television has reported with reference to Russia's Pacific Fleet commander Viktor Fedorov

Different experts’ estimates have put the volume of capital spirited out of Russia in the past decade at between $250-$300 billion. How could this have happened, and why are Western countries not willing to help Russia repatriate this wealth back home?

Most of Russia’s recent successes have been attributed to unprecedented high oil prices rather than President Putin’s administration’s economic prowess. With the economy largely addicted to oil and diversification plans slow in realization, what is the probability of full-blown Dutch disease developing in the country?

Acts of terror in London have made the media more interested in the Chechen theme. The press continues to present terrorist activities as guerilla struggle for the independence of the Republic. "President Putin relentlessly repeats that there is no war in Chechnya.

Russian and Mexican presidents Vladimir Putin and Vicente Fox issued a joint statement following their talks in the Kremlin Tuesday. A number of documents were signed in the presence of the two leaders after the talks.

The forthcoming summer PACE session will not adopt the decision concerning the cessation of the monitoring over the implementation of the Russian obligations, taken in 1996 with the inclusion in the Council of Europe, Konstantin Kosachev . . .

President Vladimir Putin has held talks with Sonia Gandhi — the chairperson of the Indian National Congress, who is on a three-day visit in Russia — and, both leaders exchanged views on ways of deepening the level of bilateral political and cultural ties between the two countries.

Russia celebrated the 60th anniversary of the WWII Victory Day on May 9 with great pomp and emotion. This is perhaps the most sacred day in modern Russia that commemorates heroism, invaluable human and material sacrifices and selfless struggles of millions against fascism.

UES CEO Anatoly Chubais, the ubiquitous and multifaceted figure on the Russian political and financial Olympus since the early 1990s, faces the toughest period in his scandalously checkered career this week as the Kremlin and other political decision-makings centers hold him responsible . . .

Tyumen Oil Co.-British Petroleum (TNK-BP), which is currently contesting a 4 billion-ruble, tax-arrears charge in court, was slapped with higher back-tax charges on Monday, raising the oil major’s tax saga with the Russian tax authorities to a new and more problematic level. . .

Evraz Group, the largest steel production and mining business in Russia, announced this week that it has completed a restructuring of its iron ore mining assets under a single holding company, Mastercroft Limited. Mastercroft is registered in Cyprus. . .

Transneft, Russia's state-controlled pipeline company which also controls the Baltic oil port of Primorsk, reacted with unusual ferocity today to an attack by a federal cabinet minister, who is threatening to reorganize the company out of existence. Specifically, the company was reacting to . . .

Tax authorities are demanding that over RUR17bn worth of taxes be recovered from Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former YUKOS CEO, and Platon Lebedev, former Menatep head, on account of the tax evasion charges made against their organizations.

The Russian government has no illusions about the stability of the economic situation in Russia, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has declared at a meeting of the intergovernmental council of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEc) in Astana (Kazakhstan).

The national law does not fully cover acts seen as acts of corruption in other countries, Rashid Nurgaliyev, Russia's interior minister, has said at today's meeting of the Federation Council.