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.

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

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.

Russia signed a contract two years ago to sell the S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran but has not made any deliveries or given any explanation for the delay.

The Wall Street Journal’s sources said Goldman had been unable to get comfortable with risks linked to the deal in the accelerated time frame.

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

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.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, however, insisted that there would be no delays and the country would get a new president Jan. 17.

The city will halt payments to pensioners who concealed the fact that they were still working and deduct the money that they have illegally received.