... five days in an Iraqi jail after entering the Middle Eastern country without valid visas have been released and are set to fly home Saturday. The bikers entered Iraq from the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, which they did not need visas to enter, RIA-Novosti reported Friday. After entering Iraq, the bikers — Oleg Kapkayev, Alexander Vardanyants, Oleg Maximov and Maxim Ignatyev — were detained in the city of Kirkuk as they headed toward Baghdad. They were released only after the Russian...

... Alexander Orlov, a member of the Moscow-based motorcycle club RAMCC, who said he is in continual contact with the men and a Russian diplomat in Iraq. "They are among the most experienced motorcycle tourists in Russia," he said, speaking to RIA-Novosti. "They have crossed the whole world. … The speculation that they forged the visas is mere nonsense." The Russian Embassy in Baghdad declined to provide details about the detentions, saying it did not want to hamper the bikers'...

... people’s rights as Russia’s ombudsman for children, said he recommends that his clients avoid police alcohol tests and ask for independent testing instead.  “Not everything that is done immediately is always honest,” he told RIA-Novosti. But he said that if his son is guilty, he should be punished. The case comes on the heels of an incident in which a car carrying a top manager of Gazprombank struck a 2-year-old child in the Moscow region in April. Bloggers accused the Gazprombank...

... faced punishment. The appeal for help, however, rallied the biker community behind the group, and several biker clubs in Moscow got involved in trying to win the men's release. Alexander Orlov, a member of the Moscow-based motorcycle club RAMCC, told RIA-Novosti earlier Thursday that the bikers have been severely beaten and dismissed talk that they might have been using forged visas. He claimed that he was in continual contact with the men and a Russian diplomat in Iraq. "They are among the...

... Shpilko, chairman of the city's tourism and hospitality committee, said at a conference last week. "The money that is being allocated for the development of tourism in Moscow, as well as the tools for its promotion, is sufficient," Shpilko said, RIA-Novosti reported. Industry players, though, would like to see the city do more to promote tourism, including upping its funding of the tourism program and easing visa regulations. "I don't see a direct link between our business and the number...

... increase the responsibility of governmental structures in carrying out supervisory functions, ensure that market principles are being followed, and defend the rights of all entrepreneurs, prosecutor's office spokeswoman Marina Gridneva said Friday, RIA-Novosti reported. On Thursday, Putin spoke in favor of creating both an entrepreneurs' rights ombudsman and a body in the General Prosecutor's Office. In April, then-President Dmitry Medvedev had ordered the government to create either an ombudsman...

... advertising strategy. The Defense Ministry has announced its readiness to spend 24.5 million rubles ($761,000) on an advertising blitz of its upcoming June military equipment auction. The ads will appear across television, radio, print and online platforms, RIA-Novosti reported. The ministry has not announced what it will sell at the auction, but previous auctions have featured helicopters, armored vehicles and land. Meanwhile, advertising geared to weaker sorts — perhaps not yet ready to commit...

... which counted as official support. Medvedev said he plans to deliver a report on the future modernization of United Russia during the convention. One priority he mentioned at the ceremony was to reshuffle the party leadership and bring in new faces, RIA-Novosti reported. United Russia has suffered a considerable decline in popular support lately, hitting a record low in the December State Duma elections with less than 50 percent support. Party critics claim that even that figure was inflated as a...

... site offers a wide collection of breaking news photographs that other news organizations are invited to use at no cost. The Moscow Times has published Ridus photos on its website. The ownership of the site, meanwhile, has been taken over by KamAZ, RIA-Novosti reported, citing the Tatarstan-based truck maker. KamAZ is owned by Kremlin-connected Russian Technologies, and its other partners include Germany's Daimler and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 179695 179742

... to boost production, increase payments to the budget and focus on offshore projects, according to a transcript on the Kremlin’s website. The current chief executive of Rosneft, Eduard Khudainatov, will become a vice president at the company, RIA-Novosti reported, citing anonymous sources. “The best commentary on the appointment of Sechin are the stock exchanges and the growth in share price of Rosneft,” said an industry source who requested anonymity to speak freely. “No...

... didn’t spell out any other responsibilities for the deputy prime ministers. Former Deputy Finance Minister Alexander Novak will head the Energy Ministry, replacing Sergei Shmatko. He said Dvorkovich would take charge of oil, gas and other industries, RIA-Novosti reported. Anton Siluanov, the former acting finance minister, will continue heading the ministry. A long-serving ministry official, he was a deputy to former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin before replacing him last fall. Andrei Belousov became...

... motorcycle assailants in Moscow Monday. The two assailants drove alongside former General Roman Dumbadze as he walked along the Rublyovskoe Shosse, and after a brief exchange of words, the assailants shot Dumbadze twice — in the head and the abdomen, RIA-Novosti said, citing law enforcement sources. Dumbadze died at the scene. A woman with Dumbadze at the time of the said the assailants wore masks, LifeNews reported. The motorcycle used by the attackers was later found abandoned at an intersection...

... Moscow State University graduate was based above the Arctic Circle in the city of Norilsk, where he worked in both business and politics for 14 years. The new energy minister visited his department Monday directly after the announcement of his promotion, RIA-Novosti reported. Newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich will oversee the sector. But the attention of experts was drawn immediately to Novak's background in the Finance Ministry, which has long battled to squeeze as much revenue...

... publications. Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, respected among the international business community for his fiscal conservatism while in office, said the new Cabinet was a “maintenance” Cabinet rather than “breakthrough” Cabinet, RIA-Novosti reported. “I have big doubts that they will be able to adequately answer the challenges that stand before Russia,” he said. Still, foreign business representatives called the appointments good news. The makeup of the Cabinet is...

... the flamboyant dictator of the fictional North-African Republic of Wadiya, was politically motivated. “We didn't even try to bring 'The Dictator' to Tajikistan because of Tajiks' mentality,” a company official told journalists on Friday, RIA-Novosti reported. The film also will not be shown in Turkmenistan, which has a blanket ban on Western films. Freedom House rated Tajikistan as “not free” in its 2012 report, and Amnesty International last year complained of police misconduct...

... outside Moscow on Friday. He noted that the post of presidential envoy would allow Kholmanskikh to have control over the activities of local law enforcement officials. “I will try not to let you down,” Kholmanskikh replied, according to RIA-Novosti. Kholmanskikh was unknown outside his factory until he appeared on Putin's annual televised call-in show in December and suggested that he bring his fellow workers to Moscow to deal with opposition protests spurred by the disputed State Duma...

... assessment by independent environmental experts, Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko said at an environmental conference in St. Petersburg on Thursday. "Any decision should be considered, so to speak, through green policy," she said, RIA-Novosti reported Thursday. Matviyenko said the idea was one of several proposals being considered as part of an effort to improve the efficiency of the upper house. Environmentalists welcomed the idea. "I'd rather that it were in the State Duma...

... around a monument to Kliment Timiryazev, a prominent Russian physiologist. The Nikitskiye Gates group was broken up later Saturday morning by the police, who directed the campers to walk to the Arbat, where at least 50 were detained during the day, RIA-Novosti reported, citing police. But people at the new Occupy Arbat site — located around a monument to poet Bulat Okudzhava — reported that dozens of new protesters were joining the camp on Saturday and Sunday. As of Sunday evening, the...

... city limits, and is physically contiguous with the Sokolniki city park. Only about a third of the Moose Island park is within Moscow city limits. No new calls came in to police about the animals overnight Thursday, and a police representative told RIA-Novosti that they may have gone back into the forest. 179742

... seized. Experts estimate the value of the icon on the illegal art market at $1 million, according to the police statement. The statement said the museum director faces smuggling charges and has faced such charges in the past. The museum director, who RIA-Novosti identified as Nikolai Zadorozhny of the Russian Icon Museum, told the news agency that he had been authorized to purchase the icon by the culture department of the Vologda region, where the painting had been stolen almost two decades ago....