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/ 7 February 2008
A Russian court refused bail on Wednesday to a jailed oil executive who is gravely ill with HIV/Aids, the latest ruling in a case that has put Russia in breach of an order from the European Court of Human Rights. Vasily Alexanian (36) has said he will die unless he is transferred from his Moscow prison to a specialist hospital.
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/ 3 December 2007
International observers declared on Monday that Russia’s parliamentary elections failed to meet widely accepted democratic standards, saying President Vladimir Putin and his government abused their power to favour the dominant Kremlin-backed party while opposition forces were harassed.
Russia accused Britain of politicising the case of murdered Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko on Friday and said the affair was hurting the two countries’ relations. ”We see attempts from the British side to use the criminal case to build up some sort of political campaign,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who buried the Soviet Union and then led Russia through its chaotic first years of independence, died on Monday aged 76, the Kremlin said. Many Russians initially viewed Yeltsin as a hero for dismantling Communist rule, but his economic ”shock therapy” cast millions into poverty.
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/ 20 January 2007
A Russian nationalist lawmaker has proposed a law switching the country back to the pre-revolutionary Julian calendar as a way of reasserting Russia’s national identity. Alexander Fomenko said the modern Gregorian calendar used throughout the Christian world was thrust on Russia a century ago in a ”cruel Westernising project”.
The United States and Russia announced on Saturday a plan to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons by setting up international enrichment centres as their leaders sought to give a boost to a big-power summit. US President George Bush and Russia’s Vladimir Putin unveiled the initiative at a news conference after talks ahead of a Group of Eight summit that starts in earnest on Sunday.
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/ 24 November 2003
Georgia’s veteran President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned on Sunday to scenes of wild jubilation in the streets of Tbilisi, as the man who helped end the Cold War was forced to step down after weeks of angry protests. He handed over power to former Parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze in a dramatic climax to mounting popular unrest.