Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry said today that a oil pipeline leak threatened environmental damage, but the pipeline’s operator and emergency officials said the spill was far smaller than the ministry claimed and had already been cleaned up.

Flags flew at half-mast and entertainment programmes were cancelled across Russia today to mark a day of mourning for the victims of a plane crash in the Siberian city of Irkutsk that killed at least 122 people and left nine others missing.

A bus packed with passengers going from Moscow to a neighbouring region overturned outside the capital early today, killing six people and injuring 20.

A Russian helicopter crashed into the Sea of Okhotsk during joint rescue exercises with Japan today, killing one of the 13 people on board.

Boats laden with dead bodies and twisted metal sailed into the palm-fringed harbour of Sochi, Russia, today, carrying the remains of some of the 113 people who died when an Armenian airliner smashed into the Black Sea.

An Armenian passenger jet crashed in bad weather off the Black Sea coast while trying to make an emergency landing in Russia, killing all 113 people aboard.

A section of tunnel collapsed in the Moscow subway today, causing a fire on a train, but no one was hurt, officials said.

THE concave, snow-covered roof of a large Moscow market collapsed early yesterday, killing at least 52 people.

The snow-covered roof of a large Moscow market collapsed early today, killing at least 49 people and forcing rescuers to clear away concrete slabs and metal beams to reach possible survivors trapped in the wreckage.

The concave, snow-covered roof of a three-decade-old Moscow market collapsed early today, killing at least 31 people and trapping about 10.

A fire broke out at a Moscow hospital today, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of patients, an emergency official said.

A bus transporting workers after their shift at a local factory today collided with a train in southern Russia, killing 17 people and injuring four, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

A fire broke out early today in a home for the mentally ill outside Moscow, killing seven people and injuring 12 others.

More than 70 people were sickened after gas was released today in a St Petersburg chain store and boxes with glass containers attached to wires were found in three other outlets of the same store.

A civilian helicopter crashed today in far eastern Russia, killing at least two crew members.

An explosion ripped through a petroleum storage depot outside Moscow early today, killing two people and injuring another, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Electricity blackouts hit large sections of the Russian capital today, forcing many subway lines and trams to halt service while frustrated pedestrians tried to flag down taxis on traffic-jammed streets.

Searchers rescued two reindeer herders today who had been left for dead after an avalanche roared through a village on Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, killing nine others, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

A bus carrying children on a sightseeing tour crashed in western Russia, killing one schoolgirl and injuring eight others, officials said.

An explosion tore through the engine room of an oil tanker in north-eastern Siberia, killing four crew members, the Emergency Situations Ministry said this morning.

Iraqi gunmen killed an Italian hostage – and threatened in a videotape to execute three other kidnapped Italians unless US troops pull out of the country.

At least three people were killed and dozens trapped under rubble when an explosion destroyed part of a apartment building in northern Russia today, officials said.

At least 21 people were killed and 106 injured when a glass and concrete roof covering a huge, two-year-old Moscow water park gave way in what the mayor called the city’s biggest technical accident.

A woman suicide bomber is believed to have blown up a train in the Moscow metro during rush hour today, killing at least 40 people and injuring more than 100.

A suspected suicide bomb tore through the Moscow metro during today’s morning rush hour, killing 30 people and wounding up to 150.

This morning's explosion in the Moscow metro has left as many as 22 people dead.

At least 15 people were killed and 50 injured today when an explosion ripped through a train in southern Russia.

A FIRE ripped through a Moscow dormitory crowded with newly arrived foreign students early yesterday, killing at least 36 people and injuring 127 others many of them forced to jump from the five-storey building because the exits were blocked.

A fire ripped through a Moscow dormitory crowded with newly arrived foreign students early today, killing at least 32 people and injuring 127 others.

A fire tore through a Moscow university dormitory early today, killing at least 32 foreign students and injuring 78 others.

SEARCH crews blasted through solid rock to rescue 11 of 13 coal miners who emerged covered in soot yesterday after six days trapped in a deep shaft in southern Russia.

Eleven of 13 coal miners who were trapped in a deep shaft in southern Russia for six days were found alive today.

Two Russian airliners today radioed hijacking alarms, but the signals were transmitted in error and the planes landed safely at their destination, a spokesman for the airline said.

The death toll from flooding in southern Russia climbed today as rescue workers continued evacuating residents from some of the worst-hit areas.

Flooding caused by heavy rain in southern Russia has claimed at least 26 lives.

At least 10 people died today when a steamroller tumbled off a truck and crashed onto a passenger bus in central Russia, emergency workers said.

A bus carrying 40 people has been seized by at least one gunman in southern Russia. It was heading to a popular resort town in the Caucasus Mountains.

A train ploughed into a bus at a level crossing in Russia’s western enclave of Kaliningrad today, killing 12 people and injuring 18.

Two people are feared dead after an explosion in an Arctic mine.