Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in central Moscow to demonstrate against alleged voting fraud and Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, in the largest public show of discontent since the end of the Soviet Union.

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.

Millions of Europeans were waiting anxiously today for gas supplies to be restored after Russia and Ukraine signed deals to end the bitter dispute that cut off shipments for two weeks.

The former KGB officer named as a suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London last year said today the British Government’s case against him has collapsed and called the dead man a “traitor”.

Dignitaries from around the world will attend the funeral of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow today.

Hundreds of mourners – some weeping, many clutching flowers – filed through a soaring, gold-domed Moscow cathedral today, past the open casket for Boris Yeltsin, paying tribute to a man who brought epochal changes to Russia but left behind a tarnished legacy.

India successfully test-fired its Brahmos supersonic cruise missile it jointly developed with Russia, according to reports today.

MOSCOW’S mayor has ordered the demolition of a huge Soviet-era hotel near the Kremlin, part of a frenzy of destruction and building that is changing the face of the centuries-old Russian capital.

Beijing has been selected to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

Moscow riot police today swiftly broke up a demonstration by about 10 Tibetans objecting to China’s bid to host of the 2008 Olympics.