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/ 1 September 2008
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was feted by Russian media on Sunday for saving a television crew from an attack by a Siberian tiger.
Vladimir Putin says US advisers were involved in the Georgian conflict and accused the White House of provoking the crisis to help the Republicans.
Russia accused the Group of Seven nations of ”bias” on Friday in a fresh attempt to counter condemnation of Russia’s actions in Georgia.
Russia lashed out at the West on Wednesday for ratcheting up tensions in the Black Sea with an increased Nato naval presence.
Russia decided on Monday to break off some trade agreements reached during negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation.
A Russian military column crossed from Georgia back into Russia on Wednesday after Western governments raised pressure for a quick and full pull-out.
What began as a skirmish has become a tragedy of global importance.
Moscow has to take some of the blame. But it is the West’s policy of liberal interventionism that has fuelled war in Georgia.
A Russian envoy called on Nato to hold an extraordinary Russia-Nato council on Tuesday to discuss the dire situation in Georgia.
Refugees continued to pour out of South Ossetia on Monday, risking snipers, aerial bombardment and tanks to reach safety across the border.
Russian troops took the capital of the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia on Sunday after a three-day battle as Georgian forces retreated.
Fighting raged in and around the capital of Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia region on Friday as Georgian troops pounded separatist forces.
For Europe’s top officials, there was a surprise on Friday. Arriving at their hotel, EU bureaucrats found a signed gift from host Dmitry Medvedev.
There were tears and sweat aplenty in Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium on Wednesday, but barely any blood. English fans kept calm. Russia’s police avoided running amok. The result was that stereotypes of Russia as a harsh forbidding place lost another chunk of credibility, and its quest to be treated as a ”normal” country on the post-Cold War stage advanced a further step.
Seventeen years have gone by since T-90 tanks last rolled across the historic cobbles of Moscow’s Red Square. But on Friday they were back — with an unmistakable diesel-fumed roar — and trundling past Lenin’s tomb and the fantastic domes of St Basil’s Cathedral. Led by a rather tubby general holding a sword, Russia held its annual Victory Day parade.
Vladimir Putin on Thursday took over as Russia’s Prime Minister a day after leaving the Kremlin and pledged to curb inflation and cut taxes to make Russia a leading economic power. Putin said in a speech to Parliament presenting his candidacy that he wanted ”single-digit inflation within a few years.
Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as President in a solemn ceremony in the Kremlin’s throne room on Wednesday, ushering in an unprecedented period of dual rule with his predecessor Vladimir Putin, who becomes Prime Minister. Medvedev placed his hand on a red, leather-bound copy of the Russian Constitution to take the oath of office before 2 000 invited guests.
Russia accused Georgia on Tuesday of planning to invade the breakaway republic of Abkhazia and said it was sending more troops to the region. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Georgia had amassed more than 1 500 troops in the mountainous Upper Kodori valley — a small but strategic enclave inside the separatist territory but controlled by Georgian forces.
Russia showed off on Tuesday the first modernised Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber, which a senior air force official said would help Moscow match the nuclear capability of a potential enemy. Russian television showed the giant, white-painted airplane releasing parachutes to slow down the speed as it landed at Engels airbase in the Volga region of Saratov.
Italians on Tuesday got their first taste of life under their new government as Silvio Berlusconi moved to appease the newly powerful Northern League with pledges of lower taxes, more police and camps for jobless foreigners. ”One of the things to do is to close the frontiers,” he said in a TV interview.
Russia will take military and other steps along its borders if ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia join Nato, Russian news agencies quoted the armed forces’ chief of staff as saying on Friday. ”Russia will take steps aimed at ensuring its interests along its borders,” the agencies quoted General Yuri Baluyevsky as saying.
United States President George Bush’s attempts to patch up the US’s battered relationship with Russia failed on Sunday when Vladimir Putin said he continued to oppose the US’s European missile defence plans. Bush and Putin held talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. It was their last encounter before Putin steps down as president.
United States President George Bush and Russia’s Vladimir Putin will have one last chance on Sunday to try to mend frayed relations face-to-face but with little hope of resolving the biggest dispute that divides them. In a farewell summit the two leaders — both in the twilight of their terms — will use their personal chemistry to try to bridge differences.
President Vladimir Putin on Friday maintained Russian opposition to a United States missile defence system and Nato’s enlargement during talks with alliance leaders, officials said. No progress was reported from the summit but Putin, in his last major international appearance before stepping down in May, and Nato leaders said the talks had been positive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday started a tense summit with Nato leaders amid mounting tensions over United States anti-missile defence plans and the alliance’s expansion toward Russian territory. In a rare moment of cooperation, Russia and Nato concluded a deal on land transit for non-military freight to Afghanistan.
Russia should take a measured approach to policing the internet, president-elect Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday in a speech that may ease concerns about a crackdown on free speech in cyberspace. Medvedev is a protege of outgoing President Vladimir Putin and is expected to continue his policies, but analysts say he could adopt a more liberal style
United States President George Bush set the stage for a clash at his last Nato summit on Wednesday by pressing reluctant West European allies to set former Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine on a path to membership. He also urged allies to follow the example of France and host nation Romania in providing extra troops for Nato’s battle against Islamist insurgents in Afghanistan.
The fate of bids by ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia to join Nato will show if the Western alliance is serious about cooperating with Russia or bent on going it alone, a Kremlin spokesperson said on Friday. Dmitry Peskov said that despite its longstanding status as a partner of Nato, Moscow was still at a loss about the alliance’s plans.
Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev maintained pressure on Nato on Tuesday not to grant membership to Ukraine and Georgia, saying a week before an alliance summit that it would undermine European security. Ukraine and Georgia are lobbying Nato to grant them a Membership Action Plan, which is seen as the first step towards joining the alliance.
Russia and Ukraine slid towards a new gas war on Tuesday as Moscow slashed supplies to the ex-Soviet republic by 50% and Ukraine’s state gas company said it may cut deliveries to Europe. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom was to cut supplies to 50% of their normal level on Tuesday at 5pm GMT, doubling a 25% cut already in force since Monday.
Until Monday there was little argument about the holder of the coveted title of shortest leader in the world: at 162cm, or a shade over five feet three inches, Kim Jong-il, supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army and Great Leader of the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea, stood head and shoulders below the rest of the field.
The West cast doubt on Russia’s presidential election on Monday after Dmitry Medvedev won a landslide victory and vowed to follow the course set by outgoing leader Vladimir Putin. Near complete results gave Medvedev 70,2% of Sunday’s vote, crushing his nearest rival, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, who won 17,8%.