Russia News

More than 120 tourists set sail Friday on an Arctic cruise on board the world's largest nuclear-powered icebreaker, a spokesman for Russia's Atomflot company said.

The 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years Since Victory) had more than 120 tourists from Europe and the Americas onboard when it left the port of Murmansk in northern Russia for Franz Josef Land, Vladimir Blinov told RIA Novosti.

Each tourist paid about $23,000 for the 12-day Arctic tour.

"We pin great hopes on the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC)," the President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev told in an interview with one of the Russian newspapers Thursday, "24.kg" reported.

Local prosecutors have called a mini-skirt ban, introduced at a teacher's college in the southwestern Siberian city of Kemerovo, a violation of students' constitutional rights.

When President Obama arrives in Russia for the Moscow summit he may face a cool reception.

When President Obama arrives in Russia for the Moscow summit he may face a cool reception. A new poll of Russians, conducted by the Levada Center as part of a larger WorldPublicOpinion.org poll, finds that just 23 percent of Russians have confidence in Obama to do the right thing in international affairs, while 55 percent say they do not have confidence. This is one of the most negative ratings of Obama out of 20 nations polled around the world

The war on terrorism presents several new and distinct challenges to coordination - how to handle terrorism-related intelligence and how to manage the foreign-domestic intelligence divide.

It seems where is no government which is ready to develop global sharing system of terrorism-related intelligence/information. As example, the U.S., Great Britain , Canada, Australia and New Zealand have a long established system of intelligence sharing and exchange, but where is no access to this system for European countries. In fact these ECHELON countries just adopt the old structure, created for global SIGINT, for new target - international terrorism. This section at Agentura.Ru is dedicated to the problem of terrorism-related intelligence sharing and exchange

The latest round in a boxing match between Russia's and Britain's secret services began on July 4, when an article appeared in the British press quoting the MI5 counterespionage unit as saying that the number of Russian spies flooding the country had made Russia the third-greatest threat to Britain after Iran and al-Qaida. ...

Meanwhile, in the Daily Mail, Member of Parliament Andrew MacKinley was accused of meeting too frequently with Alexander Polyakov, a counselor at the Russian Embassy who the MI5 suspects reports to Russian intelligence

Up till now, this has been a notably cheerful year for admirers of Ernest Hemingway – a surprisingly diverse set of people who range from Michael Palin to Elmore Leonard.

Last week, however, saw the publication of Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (Yale University Press), which reveals the Nobel prize-winning novelist was for a while on the KGB's list of its agents in America.

Leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet in Moscow, Sergey Prikhodko, assistant to the President of the Russian Federation said. "We are working towards preparation of the informal meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow. Trilateral meeting between the Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan is also possible," he said. .

In Moscow this week, President Obama scored two major accomplishments. He agreed to a framework for making deep cuts in the nuclear arsenals of both countries and obtained Russia's permission to use its airspace for resupplying our forces in Afghanistan.

Russia's Kemerovo region has notified ArcelorMittal that it will seize two of the world's largest steel maker's mines if production levels do not increase, a statement from the Siberian region said.

ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURER Sitronics, which makes telecommunications, information technology and microelectronics gear in Russia and the CIS, is to open a 90 nanometre microchip plant.

Expressing concern over the continuing conflict in Afghanistan and noting the importance of stepping up the international community's efforts to help stabilize that country and promote the democratic process and economic growth there, we reaffirm our commitment to the goals of the common fight against the threats of terrorism, armed extremism, and illegal drug trafficking in Afghanistan. We shall continue and develop our cooperation in the interest of enhancing the capabilities of the Government of Afghanistan to accomplish key socioeconomic objectives, to raise living standards, and to ensure the security of its people.

The Russian side operates to prepare a new meeting of presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Russian president's assistant Sergey Prihodko said, RIA Novosti reported.

U.S. President Barack Obama's just concluded visit to Moscow was a success and a breakthrough for bilateral relations, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday, Xinhua reported.

Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, has been found to have violated antitrust law, Russia's antimonopoly regulator announced on Thursday.

"The commission of the Federal Antimonopoly Service has declared Gazprom Neft guilty of violating Point 1 of Article 10 of the law on the protection of competition by abusing its dominant position on the market," the FAS said in a statement on its website.

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 9 /Trend News, U.Ismayilova/

The Moscow meeting will show weather it is possible to advance in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists on July 9.

A BRITISH diplomat in Russia has quit after being filmed having sex with two blonde hookers.

High-flier James Hudson, 37, resigned from his posting to the Urals in disgrace over the sordid video.

A security source said Russia's FSB intelligence service, the modern KGB, may have carried out the sting to embarrass Britain.

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 8 /Trend News, E.Tariverdiyeva/

Results of the high-level Moscow meeting have become breakthrough and the sides have many issues to have a common ground, experts believe.

Leaders of Russia, the United States and France can adopt a statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh at the G8 summit at L'Aquila, Assistant to the Russian president Arkadiy Dvorkovich told journalists, RIA Novosti reported.

A bottling plant opened by U.S. soft drink giant PepsiCo outside Moscow on Wednesday is expected to reach full capacity in three to four years, the company's top executive said.

Indra Nooyi, chair of the PepsiCo board of directors, said that the plant would be the largest bottler of beverages in Europe and the company's biggest bottling factory anywhere, once the planned production equipment has been installed.

Nooyi also said that the company was planning to invest $1 billion in Russia in the next three years on top of the $3 billion already invested in the country in the past decade.