Russia News

A Russian rights group said Chechen authorities on Thursday abducted a human rights advocate in Moscow who has been critical of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader.

Sweden on Thursday became the second nation to approve a Baltic Sea pipeline that would ship Russian natural gas to Germany, saying the project meets its demands to protect the marine environment.

Reset or repair? David Miliband's much-anticipated visit to Moscow, the first of a British foreign secretary in over five years, has not produced a major breakthrough in bilateral relations between the UK and Russia.

But there is a now a unique chance to do more than just mending fences. Britain has the opportunity to press the "reset" button and gradually turn enhanced co-operation into a strategic partnership, much like President Obama has sought to do since talks with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in the Kremlin in early July.

Could there be a more accurate description of the Obama-Brown message of congratulations to the fraudulently elected Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan? First the Palestinians held fair elections in 2006, voted for Hamas and were brutally punished for it – they still are – and then the Iranians held fraudulent elections in June which put back the weird Mahmoud Ahmadinejad whom everyone outside Iran (and a lot inside) regard as a dictator. But now we have the venal, corrupt, sectarian Karzai in power after a poll far more ambitiously rigged than the Iranian version, and – yup, we love him dearly and accept his totally fraudulent election.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has agreed with U.S. President Barack Obama to coordinate on the future of Opel after General Motors' surprise decision to keep the unit, a German government spokesman said on Thursday.

In a telephone conversation with Merkel late on Wednesday, Obama said he had not been involved in the surprise decision by the GM board which has angered the German government.

Thousands of Opel auto workers in Germany downed tools on Thursday to show their anger at U.S. parent General Motors for its decision to abandon a Russian-backed rescue plan.

Russia accused General Motors of showing the United States' scorn of business with Europe by abandoning its sale of Opel, whose German workers went on strike on Thursday.

Thousands of auto workers protested at German factories, demanding independence from a company they said had betrayed them by reversing a decision to sell a majority stake in Opel to a Russian-backed consortium.

A plan by Russian-German consortium Nord Stream to build a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea cleared two major hurdles on Thursday as Sweden and Finland signed off on construction across their waters.

"Sweden gives permission for Nord Stream to lay 2 pipes on the continental shelf within the Swedish economic zone in Baltic Sea for the transport of natural gas," the government said in a statement.

Russia may decide to use military forces abroad only in exceptional circumstances to protect its citizens, said President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday.

Georgia, Tbilisi, Nov. 5 / Trend News N.Kirtzkhalia /

"Russia pursues an inadequate policy toward Georgia," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon said at a Center for International Strategy conference, Georgian television said today.

U.S, Washington, Nov. 5 /Trend News, N.Bogdanova/

If Russia and U.S. want to start cooperation on the bases of Gabala RLS, they cannot do it without Azerbaijan's participation, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told Trend News correspondent in Washington.

Armenian-Turkish protocols are only a stage of resolving situation in South Caucasus: Russian politician

Azerbaijan, Baku, November 5 / Trend News, E.Tariverdiyeva /

Armenian-Turkish protocols are only one of the stages of resolving the situation in the South Caucasus, the General Director of the Information Analytical Center of Moscow State University, Professor of post-Soviet foreign countries department Alexey Vlasov said.

A woman has died of swine flu in the Siberian Krasnoyarsk region, bringing Russia's death toll in the pandemic to five people, the regional health minister said on Thursday.

An Italian court on Wednesday convicted 22 CIA operatives and a U.S. Air Force colonel of orchestrating the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric here in 2003 and flying him to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.

In rendering the verdict, the judge in the case, Oscar Magi, acquitted three other Americans, including the former Rome station chief for the CIA, saying they were covered by diplomatic immunity.

The Russian government was surprised by General Motors' decision to not sell its European Opel unit to the Magna-Sberbank consortium, a spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

Georgia, Tbilisi, Nov. 4 / corr Trend News N. Kirzkhalia

The Georgian Foreign Ministry protested the use of Russian area codes today in Abkhazia.

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 4 / Trend News K.Zarbaliyeva /

In Baku, a person who committed a crime in Russia has been arrested in Baku.

Georgia, Tbilisi, Nov. 4 / Trend News N.Kirtzkhalia /

Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze renounces the Russian citizenship. The minister has already sent his passport and request renunciation from Russia's citizenship to the Russian President, Vashadze said before the governmental meeting on Nov.4.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday expressed her disappointment over the U.S. General Motors (GM)'s decision not to sell Germany's Opel to the Magna-Sberbank consortium, German media reported.

Merkel, who said GM's decision was a "defeat," requested the country's economics minister, Rainer Bruederle, to raise the issue at Wednesday's cabinet meeting, Handesblatt reported. The German government has earlier pledged support for Opel only if it is sold to the consortium.

U.S. General Motors (GM) board of directors decided against selling Germany's Opel to the Magna-Sberbank consortium and to retain its big European car division, Germany's DPA news agency reported.