WHEN a sprawling yellow banner cascaded from the stands of Basel’s St Jakob-Park football stadium in late-2013 the world was suddenly alerted to a struggle for freedom thousands of kilometres away that had been waging for weeks.

In this ‘Titanic enterprise’, Simon Sebag Montefiore is not afraid to suggest that something of what made the Romanovs powerful remains in the Russian psyche and Russian leadership today, writes Mary Leland.

At a moment in our public life when the cradle-to-grave perspective and the kind of vibrant, looking-ahead imagination that brought the impressive Web Summit to Dublin seems in short enough supply tomorrow’s 25th anniversary of the removal of the Berlin Wall offers an opportunity to indulge in that almost penitential process that has, on occasion, saved many of us from delusion — mature reflection.

Russian authorities are to release the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, the environmental campaign group has said.

The last of the 26 foreign Greenpeace activists who were detained after an Arctic protest left Russia yesterday, the group announced, finally ending a saga that had caused global concern.

A Dingle swimmer is in the running to be crowned the world’s 2013 Woman Open Water Swimmer of the Year.

Russia yesterday started issuing visas to foreign crew members of a Greenpeace protest ship and dropped the criminal case against the last member of the 30-strong team.

Russian authorities have released six Greenpeace activists on bail who were involved in protest in the Arctic.

The head of Greenpeace International has written to Russian president Vladimir Putin to offer himself as human bail for 30 environmental activists being detained on piracy charges in Murmansk.

Russia has charged 14 Greenpeace activists with piracy after protesting at a Russian oil platform, leaving them facing up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Four Greenpeace activists and a British journalist held after protesting at a Russian oil platform have been charged with piracy.

A Russian court has jailed a photographer and a Greenpeace activist who were part of the 30-member Greenpeace team protesting near an oil platform in the Arctic last week.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said Greenpeace activists held after trying to scale an offshore oil platform are not pirates, but he defended the action saying Coast Guard officers had no way of knowing who they were.

Russia has charged Greenpeace activists who tried to board a state-owned offshore drilling platform in the Arctic with piracy.

Russia has harshly criticised Britain for pressuring a Russian-operated ship heading to Syria with a load of weapons to turn back.

Firefighters have extinguished a massive fire aboard a docked Russian nuclear submarine as some crew members remain inside, officials say.

A MASSIVE fire engulfed a Russian nuclear submarine in an Arctic shipyard yesterday, but there has been no radiation leak or injuries, officials said.

A massive fire engulfed a Russian nuclear submarine in an Arctic shipyard today, but there has been no radiation leak or injuries, officials said.

Fire broke out on a Russian nuclear submarine as it was awaiting repairs at an Arctic shipyard, officials said today.

THE Russian government honoured an Irish World War II hero yesterday for saving thousands of lives through his brave service on the treacherous wartime Arctic convoys.

BRITISH adventurer Lewis Gordon Pugh began his journey to the Arctic yesterday to raise awareness of the “devastating effects” of climate change by swimming in the coldest waters ahuman has endured.

A member of a Russian opposition group led by former chess champion Garry Kasparov has been forcefully put in a psychiatric clinic in what activists said was revenge for critical reporting.

AN ambitious Russian naval expedition has resumed its voyage toward the North Pole after the crew repaired the research ship’s engine, a Russian TV correspondent aboard the ship reported.

The European Union has ordered restrictions on bird markets and shows and urged nations to present a program of vaccination for zoo birds as part of increased measures to head off the spread of bird flu.

THE European Commission yesterday banned imports of pet birds and feathers from most of Russia in the latest move to combat the spread of avian flu.

The European Union today said it was extending a ban on the importation of pet birds and feathers to cover most of Russia.

The UK is to give a £15m (€22m) grant to Russia to help pay for a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, the British government announced today.

Russia’s navy chief said today that one of the nation’s most powerful ships, the nuclear-powered Peter the Great missile cruiser, was in such dire condition that it could “explode” at any moment – a statement attributed in some quarters to infighting among naval top brass.

One of Russia’s most powerful ships, the nuclear-powered Peter the Great missile cruiser, was in dire condition and could explode at any moment, a Russian navy chief said today.

WHEN one of the plum prizes went on the block in Russia’s chaotic sell-off of former Soviet assets, the highest bid for a stake was $1 billion — but prosecutors say Mikhail Khodorkovsky snapped it up for just $210,000.

Investigators today revealed the ‘‘hell’’ inside the nuclear submarine Kursk which sank in the Barents Sea with the loss of 118 lives.

Forensic experts are beginning to remove bodies from the wreck of the Kursk.

The Kursk has surfaced for the first time since it sank with the loss of all hands.

Divers today began attaching a second pontoon to the barge holding the wreckage of the submarine Kursk in preparation for raising the vessel into a dry dock at a ship-repair plant in northern Russia.

A giant barge hauling the battered Kursk submarine pulled into waters of a Russian shipyard today, in the final stage of an ambitious salvage effort made riskier by the ship’s two nuclear reactors and missile arsenal.

The raising of the Kursk nuclear submarine has been completed. A Dutch consortium says it has taken more than 12 hours to lift the vessel to the surface of the Barents Sea.

A Dutch consortium on today began raising the Kursk nuclear submarine from the bottom of the Barents Sea, where it lay for more than a year following the explosion and sinking that killed 118 Russian seamen.

Families of the 118 men killed when the submarine Kursk sank have gathered in the Russian port of Murmansk for a pilgrimage to the doomed boat's home base.

The operation to raise the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk is approaching the challenging phase of cutting the badly damaged bow section from the rest of the ship.

The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk will be raised from the bottom of the Barents Sea in mid-September, weather permitting, officials said today.

Naval engineers using a remote-controlled mini-sub conducted exploratory work today at the site where the Kursk nuclear submarine sank, laying the groundwork for the complex, two-month operation to raise the shattered ship.

A team of divers was today expected to begin preparation work on raising the wreck of the stricken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank last year with the loss of 118 lives.

An international team which hopes to raise the Russian nuclear submarine the Kursk today arrived at the wreck site in the Barents Sea.

The international team aiming to raise sunken Russian nuclear submarine the Kursk was today due to arrive at the wreck site in the Barents Sea.