The 29-year-old Londoner landed a handful of big left-right combinations in the early rounds that troubled the towering Russian, who could not pin the quick Haye to the ropes.

Moscow remains beholden to the Russian economic boom, which in turn directly depends on oil prices, and if they fall again in coming months, the city's real estate bubble may burst spectacularly.

Vedomosti says RusAl and its lawyers are bombarding its reporters with threatening phone calls and e-mails after an Oct. 26 article.

Even the most seemingly trivial factor can spark a historical event.

On that cold night twenty years ago, decades of separation and anxiety melted into the unbelievable reality of a future without border guards, secret police, informers and rigid communist control.

Yevgeny Skripelev also said his client had been motivated by personal animosity and was not linked to any ultranationalist groups.

Alexei Dymovsky, a police major in the Krasnodar region city of Novorossiisk, said Sunday on Ekho Moskvy radio that he fears for his life and his family after his video addresses to the prime minister became an Internet sensation over the weekend.

Medvedev needs to decide whether he wants to make his regular smart speech or go for the jugular and ask Russians to sacrifice for their country to bridge the “modernization divide” with leading powers.

The finance minister also said he was concerned that asset price bubbles might materialize because of massive rapid capital inflows.

A Gazprom spokesman declined to comment on whether the payment had been received, saying only that the money was expected by Monday.