Budanov Cleared of Charges

Yury Budanov, the former army colonel whose early release on charges of killing an 18-year-old Chechen girl sparked outrage, has been cleared on separate kidnapping allegations linked to the disappearance of 18 people in Chechnya, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The Investigative Committee said Budanov was questioned twice as a suspect in the disappearance of 18 people in a southern district of Chechnya in 2000. It said, however, that he had proved to investigators' satisfaction that he could not have been in the village where the victims lived when they went missing.

Budanov's claim was supported by other evidence, the committee said in a statement. It said he is no longer a suspect and that restrictions placed on his freedom of movement and conduct have been lifted. (AP)

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U.S. Visas for Most Russians

U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle said Wednesday that only 5 percent of visa applications filed by Russians were being declined.

Beyrle also told Ren-TV television that he did not expect the visa regime between the United States and Russia to be lifted any time soon. (MT)

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No Planned War in Arctic

Artur Chilingarov, the Kremlin's envoy to the Arctic, on Wednesday played down worries of a possible armed conflict over control of the region's potentially huge mineral riches.

"Nobody's going to war with anybody, we don't need to talk about this," Chilingarov told reporters. "We will defend our economic interests, but I don't see a conflict in the near future."

Last month, the Kremlin included the Arctic in a document in which it said Russia might have to fight wars on its borders before 2020 for control of energy resources. (Reuters)

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Russia to Take Spent Fuel

BELGRADE -- Russia agreed Wednesday to take 3 metric tons of spent fuel from a closed Serbian nuclear reactor to ensure that the radioactive waste does not end up in terrorist hands, officials said.

The Vinca Nuclear Institute's reactor was built with Soviet technology in 1959 and shut down in 2002.

Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko signed a $54 million transfer agreement Wednesday in Belgrade. (AP)

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Brad Pitt Stops Omsk Cars

Brad Pitt is accustomed to stopping passersby in their tracks. The Hollywood heartthrob's next job is slowing traffic in Siberia -- or so police hope.

Cardboard cutouts of Pitt dressed as a traffic cop have been placed at the most dangerous intersections in Omsk to prevent speeding, Argumenty i Fakty reported. The campaign seems to be working. Omsk officials said accidents are down as drivers ease off the gas to gaze at the unusual image.

Police officer Dmitry Ziryanov, who came up with the idea, said Pitt is "kind of like a colleague for us." (AP)