A suicide bomber struck a busy railway station in southern Russia yesterday, killing herself and at least 15 others and wounding scores more, officials said, in a stark reminder of the threat Russia is facing as it prepares to host February’s Olympics in Sochi.

Fifteen people died and scores were wounded when a female suicide bomber struck at a railway station in southern Russia.

A female suicide bomber killed at least 14 people and wounded scores more at a railway station in southern Russia.

Investigators are examining flight recorders and other evidence to try to determine the cause of a plane crash in Moscow that left four people dead.

Russian investigators have filed charges against a left-wing activist, making him the most prominent opposition figure to face prison under an increasingly severe Kremlin crackdown against the anti-Putin protest movement.

Tens of thousands of Russians flooded Moscow's tree-lined boulevards today in the first massive protest against president Vladimir Putin's rule since his inauguration in May - a rally that came even as police interrogated key opposition leaders.

Russian investigators searched the apartments of several opposition leaders today and called them in for questioning, raising tensions on the eve of a large protest against President Vladimir Putin.

AN overloaded motor boat crashed into a docked barge on the Moscow River in pre-dawn darkness yesterday, killing nine of the 16 people on board, officials said.

An overloaded motor boat crashed into a docked barge on the Moscow River in pre-dawn darkness today, killing nine of the 16 people on board, officials said.

Russian officials say the suspected gunman in the 2006 killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been arrested.

Officials of the Moscow airport where a suicide bomber killed 35 people must bear responsibility for security failures there, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today.

A SUICIDE bomber carrying a suitcase walked into Moscow’s busiest airport yesterday and set off a huge explosion, killing at least 35 people, reportedly including two Britons.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is vowing to "destroy those responsible" for the Moscow metro suicide attacks.

An explosion and fire apparently caused by pyrotechnics tore through a nightclub in the Russian city of Perm early today, killing 101 people, according to news reports.

Russian officials opened a terror investigation today, saying that a home-made bomb planted on the tracks of the high-speed Moscow-to-St Petersburg route caused a derailment that killed at least 26 people and injured dozens more.

AN off-duty Russian police chief went on a killing spree at a Moscow shop, leaving three people dead and at least six injured, Russian news agencies reported.

The top judge on a Russian regional court has been wounded in an apparent assassination attempt, officials said today.

RUSSIAN investigators yesterday sifted through the wreckage of an Aeroflot jet that crashed in the Ural mountains killing all 88 people on board, as the region marked a day of mourning.

A passenger jet travelling from Moscow to the Ural Mountains city of Perm crashed while preparing to land early today, killing all 88 people aboard, officials said.

A passenger jet travelling from Moscow to the Ural Mountains city of Perm crashed as it was preparing to land early today, killing all 88 people aboard, officials said.