Russian Federation

Russia’s Lower House of Parliament on Wednesday turned down a motion of no confidence in the Cabinet of President Vladimir Putin but many legislators demonstrated their disdain for the government by boycotting the vote. Only 112 deputies of the 450-seat State Duma backed the no-confidence motion. The majority did not cast votes.

Chechen rebels called for the first ceasefire of the five-year guerrilla war in Russia’s war-torn republic on Thursday but pro-Moscow officials in Chechnya brushed the move off as a ”bluff” while the Kremlin kept silent over the announcement. ”This is all a bluff,” said the Chechen’s state council chief, Taus Dzhabrailov, of the ceasefire call.

Russia pledged its ”active” support on Monday for visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas amid growing signs of a revival in the long-dormant Middle East peace process. Abbas said Moscow will play a decisive role in restarting the Israeli-Palestinian talks.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexis II, assured his flock on Friday that new identification documents to be introduced in Russia will not contain the "sign of the Antichrist" despite scare-mongering rumors to the contrary, Itar-Tass reported. The patriarch was speaking ahead of a meeting of clerics in Moscow.

The cash-rich oil company Surgutneftegaz is the mystery purchaser of the main assets of Russia’s Yukos empire, auctioned for ,35-billion to a shell company, press reports said on Tuesday. The head of Russia’s big business body criticised the opaque sale and warned it will damage the country’s investment image.

Yukos’s jailed founder accused the Russian government of ”destroying” the nation’s top oil group on Monday as mystery surrounded the new owner of its crown jewel, widely seen as linked to state-run gas giant Gazprom. In an auction cloaked in secrecy on Sunday, the Russian authorities sold Yukos’s main subsidiary to an unknown entity.

Thieves used a crane, a truck and the cover of pre-dawn darkness to steal a 700kg giant bronze statue of 19th-century Russian author Mikhail Lermontov in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz, Itar-Tass news agency said on Friday. The theft occurred from a well-known public square in the city.

Russian soldiers in World War II-style uniforms slogged through early winter slush on Tuesday to re-enact the Soviet Union’s defeat of Adolf Hitler’s armies in the Battle of Moscow near the Russian capital 63 years ago. President Vladimir Putin joined elderly survivors of the World War II battle to watch the 90-minute commemoration.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia will in the coming years acquire new nuclear weapon systems that other nuclear powers do not yet have and are unlikely to develop in the near future. Putin said Russia still views terrorism as the greatest threat to its national security, but should not forget about the nuclear threat.

A reported accident at a nuclear power plant in central Russia spread panic on Friday, as residents rushed to buy radiation antidotes despite official assurances that the malfunction was a minor glitch. Universities in Samara, 300km north-east from the plant, were closed and businesses advised employees to stay home and close the windows.

Russia’s Lower House of Parliament has passed legislation that will make it illegal to drink beer in public, news reports said on Thursday. The Bill, which comes in the wake of legislation passed earlier this year that clamps down on beer commercials and advertising, was approved on Wednesday.

Police in Moscow found and defused two car bombs overnight in the Russian capital, Russian media reported on Saturday. Police discovered the two cars, filled with explosives and mines, on two separate residential streets in the city centre late on Friday, Interfax reported, citing an unnamed police official.

An ingenious telephone service helping women in Moscow get rid of undesired suitors has become hugely popular. ”Hello. Welcome to the Moscow refusal service. The person who left you this telephone number does not want to speak to you. Goodbye,” is what an increasing number of men are hearing.

A powerful blast on an oil tanker in the Siberian region of Yakutia left four people dead, six injured and three missing, Itar-Tass news agency said on Friday. The explosion occurred Thursday when oil was being poured into the tanker, which was docked on the Anabar river in the city of Yuriung-Khaya.

Russia warned on Wednesday it could launch pre-emptive strikes on terror bases anywhere in the world and put a bounty on two top Chechen rebels after the broadcast of a chilling video of the school hostage siege. ”We will take steps to liquidate terror bases in any region” in the world, Russian Chief of Staff General Yury Baluyevsky said.

Tens of thousands of Russians massed outside the Kremlin on Tuesday to express their anger at terror after the Beslan school hostage tragedy, as families pressed on with an agonising search for loved ones still missing. The Interfax agency cited official police figures as saying 130 000 people turned out for the rally.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians gathered in towns and cities across the country on Tuesday in a show of solidarity after the school hostage-taking in Beslan in which at least 335 adults and children died. Placards held by participants bore mottos such as ”Russia against terror” and ”We grieve together”.

Russian television on Monday paraded what officials said was the only suspected hostage-taker still alive of the gang who held 1 000 children and adults in a school in southern Russia for three days. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday welcomed Israel’s offer of help in combating militant groups.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=121696">Frantic search for missing in Beslan</a>