A HUMAN rights lawyer who fought against the early release of a Russian colonel convicted of murdering a Chechen woman was shot dead on a Moscow street yesterday, days after the officer left prison, law enforcement authorities said.

Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti reports that the prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine reached a deal to settle the gas dispute that has shut off supplies to Europe.

A helicopter carrying a group of Russian officials on a hunting trip has crashed in South Siberia’s mountains, killing seven people, officials said today.

Most trading on Russia’s stock markets was suspended today after the massive selloffs on Wall Street and Asian markets, Russian news agencies reported.

The breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia intends to become part of Russia, news agencies reported today.

Russian tanks and troops roamed freely around Gori today and made forays toward the Georgian capital, keeping control of the road that slices through Georgia’s midsection despite Russia’s announcement that a withdrawal had begun.

A Russian Foreign Ministry official warned today that Russia would have to use “military methods” to defend its countrymen if fighting erupts in two breakaway regions of Georgia, news agencies reported.

Russian voters were expected to endorse Vladimir Putin’s choice of a successor in today’s presidential election, allowing Mr Putin to retain a measure of power in his nation whose wealth and global voice have grown even as democratic freedoms diminished.

Eleven fishing boat crew who had been stranded since October in a remote part of Russia’s Far East have been rescued after sheltering nearly three months at an abandoned military base, according to television and Russian news agency reports.

Britain’s ambassador to Russia said today that the Government will continue to press for the extradition of the main suspect in the killing of Alexander Litvinenko despite his probable membership in Russia’s new parliament, Russian news agencies reported.

Joint US-Russian use of a radar station in Azerbaijan would raise security concerns for the country, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said today.

US missile defence experts today visited a Russian-operated radar station in Azerbaijan that Moscow is offering to share to counter potential missile threats from nations including Iran, but a top US general suggested its technology was outdated.

A car bomb exploded near a police vehicle in Russia’s troubled North Caucasus today, killing at least three police officers, witnesses and Russian media reports said.

Ten people have been arrested over the killing of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and will be charged soon, Russian news agencies quoted the chief prosecutor as saying today.

Russia’s recent resumption of long-range bomber missions is not a sign of aggression and authorities are informing other countries of the flights in advance, an Air Force spokesman said today.

A preliminary hearing was held today in the trial in absentia of Kremlin foe Boris Berezovsky on charges that he embezzled millions of pounds from Russian national airline Aeroflot.

Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy today said that British prosecutors' decision to charge him with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko is "politically motivated", news agencies have reported.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in Moscow today for high-level meetings amid growing Russia-US tensions underlined by President Vladimir Putin’s increasing criticism of the American administration.

Russia bid a solemn farewell today to Boris Yeltsin, its first post-Soviet leader, in a funeral presided over by some two dozen white-robed priests and a crowd of dignitaries including President Vladimir Putin and two former US leaders.

An American mother and daughter rushed to hospital in Moscow for suspected thallium poisoning arrived home today as colleagues and relatives struggled to understand how they could have been exposed to the potentially fatal chemical.

President Vladimir Putin and Arab League chief Amr Moussa today called for an international conference on the Iraq conflict and the Middle East, according to reports.

A Russian court today sentenced three people to life in prison for their role in a pair of Moscow underground rail bombings in 2004 that killed nearly 50 people, a court spokeswoman said.

Russian emergency workers have flown to a Siberian region where smelly orange, yellow and green snow fell.

A US proposal to install part of its missile defence system in former Warsaw Pact nations would be a "clear threat" to Russia, a leading Russian general said today.

RUSSIA stepped up security in major cities yesterday, deploying thousands of extra police and urging public vigilance, a day after officials warned of a possible terrorist threat on public transport.

Authorities sent additional police units and officers onto the streets of many Russian cities today, a day after officials announced a warning about a possible terrorist threat on public transportation.

Russia's top prosecutor said his office wants to question fugitive tycoon Boris Berezovsky the probe of ex-security agent Alexander Litvinenko's poisoning death, Russian news agencies reported today.

Russia’s top prosecutor said British investigators have asked to return to Moscow as part of their probe of ex-security agent Alexander Litvinenko’s poisoning death, Russian news agencies reported today.

Russia will soon send a team to Britain to investigate the poisoning death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, the country’s top prosecutor said today in a television interview.

Russian and Belarusian officials resumed negotiations today on ending a trade dispute that brought a three-day shut-off of a main Russian oil pipeline to Europe, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia today warned that relations with Britain could be damaged if speculation continued to suggest that they were officially involved in the poison spy case.

A top Kremlin anti-terror official said that Russian security agents had no information about allegations that poisoned ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko was involved in smuggling radioactive materials, a Russian news agency reported today.

Russian officials today denied a report of an accident at a chemical weapons reprocessing site, the RIA-Novosti and Interfax news agencies reported.

Japan issued a tsunami alert today and told Pacific coast residents to flee to higher ground after a powerful earthquake hit off sparsely populated islands between northern Japan and the Russian Far East.

Officials at Moscow’s Domodedovo international airport today denied a report that a plane caught fire on a runway, saying there had been no incidents and the airport was operating normally.

North Korea today boasted that it successfully tested a nuclear weapon, sparking a barrage of global condemnation and threats of harsh sanctions over an underground blast that appeared to thrust the volatile communist state into the elite club of nuclear-armed nations.

Russia is to suspend transport and postal links with Georgia in its first retaliatory measure for the detention of four Russian military officers, news agencies reported today.

A Russian passenger jet with at least 170 people aboard crashed in eastern Ukraine today, and a Russian news agency cited Ukrainian emergency officials as saying there were no survivors.

A Russian passenger jet with 170 people aboard crashed in Ukraine on today after sending an SOS message, emergency officials said.

A retired Russian secret service colonel was today sentenced by a military court in Moscow to 13 years imprisonment for spying, news agencies reported.

A Russian rocket aiming to put 18 satellites into orbit failed and crashed to the ground shortly after lift-off tonight, the Interfax news agency reported.

Russia sent an airliner to Jordan today to begin evacuating citizens from areas of the Middle East affected by the growing conflict, an emergency official said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today shrugged off the decision to refer Iran’s nuclear programme to the UN Security Council, saying his country would never abandon its plans for the peaceful exploitation of atomic power.

The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service today said that Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev has been killed, Russian news agencies reported.