RUSSIAN rescuers scoured the sewer system in the central city of Bryansk yesterday in search for the body of an 18-month baby who tumbled through the ground with his mother when the pavement collapsed.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has urged the government to listen to protesters demanding free elections.

Ukraine is preparing to mark 25 years since the Chernobyl power station exploded in the world’s worst nuclear accident.

President Mary McAleese will make a four-day visit to Russia next week in a bid to build business links between the countries, it was disclosed today.

RUSSIAN Orthodox patriarch Alexiy II was buried yesterday after a long and elaborate funeral ceremony at which he was praised for reviving the nation’s Christian faith after decades of communist rule.

David Cronenberg’s ‘Eastern Promises’ (Pathé, €24.99) is a chilling thriller, with Viggo Mortensen playing Nikolai, an enigmatic driver-turned-killer for an east European crime lord.

A top Russian Orthodox official today said the country’s dominant church believed the body of Bolshevik Revolution leader Vladimir Lenin should be removed from display in a Red Square mausoleum and buried.