19:37
Meeting of Russia-NATO Council at Defence Ministers' level scheduled for December 1
A meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the level of defence ministers will be held on December 1, Vice Admiral Valentin Kuznetsov, Russia's senior representative to NATO, told journalists on Thursday. More details...

19:10
ROMIR posts results of opinion poll on jailed YUKOS former head
Thirty-eight percent of Russians believe Mikhail Khodorkovsky's resignation from the Russian oil giant YUKOS will not shelter him from prosecution, according to a public opinion poll conducted by ROMIR. Thirty-four percent of the respondents said given such heavy charges Khodorkovsky was not in a position to run the business, and eighteen percent of the pollees argued that the charges were true More details...

18:09
Is the global economy emerging from crisis?
Russian President Vladimir Putin and IMF Managing Director Horst Keller met Thursday to discuss five issues, said presidential economic adviser Andrei Illarionov. In particular, he added, the sides discussed the current situation in the global economy and Russia's economy as well, the progress of economic reform in the country and the Russian sides' further moves More details...

17:40
Putin's aide accuses British justice of double standards
British judiciary has a rather strange, and, putting it mildly, selective view of justice. This was how Russian Presidential Aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky commented on the London Court ruling against the extradition of Akhmed Zakayev, emissary of Chechen separatists in Europe More details...

17:23
President Putin updates Hoerst Koehler on his position on Yukos affair
The Russian oil major YUKOS affair has been discussed at a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hoerst Koehler, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said Andrei Illarionov, an aide to the Russian president. He said President Putin had offered his position on the matter More details...

16:41
Russian babies will not repeat the fate of Israeli ones
The Russian state sanitary and epidemiological service believes it is necessary to suspend the realisation of food for children produced by the German firm Humana and the Israeli firm Remedia. Chief sanitary physician of the Russian Federation Gennady Onishchenko signed a corresponding letter on November 12, 2003 More details...

16:34
Right-wingers fail to unite with Yabloko
The Union of Right Forces (SPS) will seek unification of all democratic forcers in Russia, though without the Yabloko party and its leader Grigory Yavlinsky, SPS co-chairman Anatoly Chubais said. He did not name the forces with which the SPS is going to join hands, but said only that "the democratic front is not limited to Yabloko and Yavlinsky." More details...

16:31
Russian President meets with IMF managing director
Vladimir Putin supports the policy pursued by the Central Bank of Russia with regard to the rouble rate. "The Central Bank is pursuing a truly weighted policy in this respect. What the Central Bank is doing today, is derived from Russia's present-day realities," the president said at his meeting with IMF Managing Director Horst Keler held in the presidential residence in Novo-Ogarevo More details...

16:14
Foreign currency exchange rates as fixed by Central Bank of Russia
The Central Bank of Russia fixed, effective November 14, 2003, the following rates of exchange of foreign currencies to the rouble of the Russian Federation: More details...

16:08
Forecast: 60% of voters to turn up at forthcoming parliamentary elections
Over 60 per cent of voters will turn up at the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Russia, head of the independent research center Public Opinion Fund Alexander Oslon told a press conference in Moscow on Thursday More details...

15:54
Population in Far East dropping fast
The population of the Far East has dropped over the last decade from 8 million to just 6.7 million. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, this was announced by Deputy Russian Presidential Plenipotentiary for the Far East Federal District Yuri Obriadin, who spoke at a State Duma assembly today More details...

15:47
Baltika and RusAl's subsidiary to cooperate
The Baltika brewery and Rostar, a subsidiary of Russian Aluminum (RusAl), signed a six-year cooperation agreement worth $270m. The agreement envisages Rostar's supplies of cans that will provide for 50 percent of Baltika's needs. All 10 kinds of Baltika's canned beer will be bottled in these aluminum cans More details...

15:44
Natural Resources Ministry rejects biased stance on YUKOS
A negative decision on the draft Angarsk-Daqing pipeline project is not aimed against YUKOS, Kirill Yankov, Russian Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, announced today. He spoke about this issue at a conference "Environmental projects of Russian corporations" and stressed that the project of a pipeline passing through a national park could not be approved More details...

15:42
Counterfeit consumer goods account for about 50% of Russian market
About 30-50% of consumer goods in Russia are fake. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, this was announced today by Deputy Russian Minister for Economic Development and Trade Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who spoke at the international conference Counterfeit production-the problems and their solutions More details...

13:04
Russian Prime Minister on military-industrial sector's development
The establishment of large integrated structures inside this country's military-industrial sector is an essential pre-condition of long-term sectoral development, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told a regular Cabinet session today. Among other things, this session examined the implementation of the federal target program for overhauling the military-industrial sector over the 2002-2006 period More details...

12:41
YUKOS' new chief disavows jailed predecessor
Mikhail Khodorkovsky has nothing more to do with YUKOS as a manager, YUKOS new CEO Semyon Kukes said in an interview with the BBC. "If a stockholder has problems with the government, this is his personal problem", Kukes emphasized. The executive added that Khodorkovsky's case should be decided by court More details...

12:37
New law simplifies Russian citizenship process
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the federal law, "On Making Amendments and Additions to the Federal Law on Citizenship of the Russian Federation," the presidential press service said. The new law simplifies the procedure in becoming a Russian citizen for certain groups of people More details...

11:55
Russia to consult U.S. and China before North Korea talks
In November, Russia will meet with China and the U.S. to prepare for the second round of negotiations with North Korea, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov. "In the next few days, we will have a number of meetings. On November 17-18, we are meeting with the Chinese in Beijing and after November 20, we will discuss the North Korean problem in Washington" More details...

11:08
Russian President to hold joint SC, State Council session
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a joint session of Russia's Security Council and State Council Presidium, the Kremlin press service reports. The session will touch upon measures to ensure protection of infrastructure facilities vital for national security and of the country's population from technical and natural threats and terrorist manifestations More details...

18:09
Russia and India on progress in military-technical cooperation
Russia and India point to progress in military-technical cooperation, including joint research, professional training, and contacts between respective military branches, says a joint statement adopted at the end of the Russian-Indian summit in Moscow More details...

18:00
Aeroflot head on outlooks for Russian civil aviation
The number of civil airplanes operating in Russia may reduce by several times, Alexander Zubarov, the chairman of the board of the Aeroflot airlines, announced at a round-table meeting of the Russian Federation Council. At present, the total amount of long-haul airplanes in Russia is 1,500 More details...

16:53
Russia and India stand for immediate reestablishment of Iraq's sovereignty
Russia and India are convinced of the need to "adopt under the UN aegis a concrete, stage-by-stage plan for immediate reestablishment of the national sovereignty of Iraq, stabilization of political and humanitarian situation in the country and provision of its economic development with broad international participation," states the Declaration on global challenges More details...

16:50
90,000 foreign students enrolled in Russian universities
During a meeting with delegates from Russian universities, Eleonora Mitrofanova, the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, said Russian universities' yearly earnings from the international education market total $150 million (the gross market volume is $40-50 billion) More details...

16:31
General Prosecutor's Office on case of former YUKOS head
The criminal case against former YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be considered in the shortest possible time and submitted to court, Russian Deputy General Prosecutor Vladimir Kolesnikov announced today. "Judging from present evidence and accusation documents against Khodorkovky, his case will be considered in the shortest possible time," the official was quoted as saying More details...

16:27
Putin: Vajpayee's current visit - important stage in bilateral relations
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's "current visit to Moscow is an important stage in the development of bilateral relations which have always been equal," Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the talks with the Indian Premier More details...

15:20
CIS observers of parliamentary elections in Russia
The mission of observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) who will monitor the State Duma (Lower House) elections has got to work in Russia, said Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee and the head of the observers' mission Yury Yarov More details...

15:17
Putin, Vajpayee to sign declaration on global challenges
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee will round off their talks by signing a declaration on global challenges and threats to international security and stability. The visiting prime minister has said this at extended talks in Moscow More details...

13:28
S. Korean Foreign Minister to visit Moscow
South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yun Yong-Kwan has accepted an invitation from Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to pay an official visit to Russia from November 16 to 18, said the press and information department of the Russian Foreign Ministry More details...

13:20
Russia to re-equip military base in Armenia
Russia intends to begin re-equipping the 102nd Military Base in Armenia, said Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov in a press conference yesterday. At the same time, he said that a serious build-up will not take place. 'The supplying of weapons to the base will have an exclusively defensive character and will not destabilize the situation in the region,' said Ivanov More details...

12:25
Putin signs agreement with European Investment Bank
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the federal law "On Ratifying a Framework Agreement between Russia and the European Investment Bank and Additions". This law, passed by the State Duma on October 17, 2003, regulates the activities of the European Investment Bank in Russia, the Russian presidential press service reported. More details...