Billboards around the city show Mayor Yury Luzhkov urging Moscow residents to vote on March 2. But what they will be voting for is not a continuation of President Vladimir Putin's course but of Luzhkov's course.

Zamoskvoretsky District Court sentenced former Nuclear Power Minister Yevgeny Adamov to 5 1/2 years in prison Wednesday, one day after it found him guilty of abuse of office and defrauding Russia and the United States out of millions of dollars.

Vladimir Potanin's Interros, a key shareholder in Norilsk Nickel, said Wednesday that it was considering a possible ""white knight"" bid to merge its metals assets with those of Alisher Usmanov's Gazmetall, as Norilsk Nickel struggles to fend off a merger with RusAl on unfavorable terms.

Complete coverage of the U.S.-Russia summit, being held July 6-8 in Moscow.

Vladimir Putin made what seemed to be an implausible promise in August 1999. The newly appointed prime minister said he could end a crisis caused by the incursion of 2,000 rebels from Chechnya into Dagestan in ""a week and a half or two weeks.""

On his first official visit to European capitals since being named the Kremlin's favored presidential successor, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was in Belgrade and Budapest on Monday, announcing Hungary's participation in the South Stream pipeline and pledging significant economic and political aid to Serbia.

The vodka had been flowing for about 30 minutes when Andrei Bogdanov poured another shot for the plump, elderly woman in a green beret.

The government reacted immediately Sunday to Kosovo's declaration of independence, calling for a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the move, while former Soviet breakaway regions, long fostered by aid from Moscow, rejoiced at improved prospects of international recognition.

The head of international rights group Human Rights Watch has been denied a Russian visa, scuttling his plans to present a report accusing authorities of shackling nongovernmental organizations with burdensome regulations.

President Vladimir Putin and his likely successor, Dmitry Medvedev visited the country's main flight test center Wednesday and unveiled a plan to help revive the aircraft industry, which fell on hard times after the 1991 Soviet collapse.