During his first official meetings with foreign leaders as president, Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to stand behind the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, with particular attention to social and economic development. During his first official meetings with foreign leaders as president, Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to stand behind the breakaway republics...

... of Chaslav, after the plane suffered a malfunction with its landing gear. No one was killed, but most of the passengers were injured. The accident occurred just before noon following an observation flight by the plane, which had citizens of the Czech Republic and Russia on board, Interfax reported, citing Czech news site Pravo. Six of the 23 passengers were hospitalized with injuries sustained in the fire, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. One person had unspecified severe injuries, the statement...

The former head of the Leningrad region assembly was nominated Tuesday to become governor of the Karelia republic, a move seen as another attempt to replace a regional governor before direct gubernatorial elections go into effect this fall. The former head of the Leningrad region assembly was nominated Tuesday to become governor of...

... most other Soviet children because slush and rains turned the ravines on the route into deadly traps. Those rough times left indelible memories ¸ so much so that he set about improving rural life in his native Chuvashia as soon as he came to rule the republic years later, in the early 1990s. ÍOn becoming Chuvashia's president, the first thing I decided was to create comfortable living conditions in the villages,Î Fyodorov said in a Monday meeting with reporters to introduce himself in his new capacity...

... LifeNews reported. The motorcycle used by the attackers was later found abandoned at an intersection near the scene of the shooting. Dumbadze gained notoriety after he switched allegiance during a conflict between Georgia and the autonomous Adzharia republic in 2004. He publicly declared allegiance to Aslan Abashidze, leader of the republic, and was later accused of rebellion and sentenced to prison. Dumbadze was freed as part of a prisoner exchange deal with Russia in 2008, and in 2010 became a...

... Politics think tank, said Kadyrov might be trying to show some activity, fearing that the country's leadership might decide to cut federal budget subsidies to some or all of the regions despite promises not to do so. Chechnya and the other North Caucasus republics are among the most heavily subsidized regions, provoking nationalist sentiments of ethnic Russians, who have rallied repeatedly under the slogan: "Stop Feeding the Caucasus." In November, the Audit Chamber said 18 billion rubles ($580...

... Nurgaliyev. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held onto their jobs. The youngest-ever minister, Nikolai Nikiforov, 29, will head the Communications and Press Ministry. He is coming from the same position in the Tatarstan republic. Businessman Mikhail Abyzov will coordinate the Cabinet’s relations with the expert community called the Open Government, a brainchild of Medvedev, in the capacity of a minister, but he will have no ministry. Denis Manturov, until recently...

Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that strengthening Russia's ties with other former Soviet republics would be a priority of his presidency, presenting one of the first planks of his foreign policy after taking office two weeks ago.

... decade, the Russian government has been making a sustained effort to put immigration under control. But this effort has been effectively undermined by the open-border regime Russia maintains with most of other former Soviet republics. Over the past decade, the Russian government has been making a sustained effort to put immigration under control. But this effort has been effectively undermined by the open-border regime Russia maintains with most of other former Soviet...

... history:</b></td><td><p><b>Co-Founder/Chairman/CEO</b><br>UkrWindEnergo<br>Ukrainian-American wind energy producer with a mission of installing, operating, and maintaining a wind power park in Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukraine. Co-founded company with a vision of creating the largest, most efficient, and most profitable producer of wind energy in Ukraine, providing a premium return for investors, significantly...

A victorious presidential candidate in South Ossetia whose election win was thrown out will join the government after all. Interfax reported that a decree issued late Wednesday by South Ossetian President Leonid Tibilov named Alla Dzhioyeva as the republic's deputy prime minister. Her purview in that capacity will be oversight of the government's handling of social issues. A day earlier, Dzhioyeva had been chosen to lead a new political party. Delegates at a general congress in Tsingvali voted...

... Kallaur, head of VEB's Belarussian subsidiary. "The interest rate will be slightly below the market one." Russia, whose companies will build the power plant, has promised to lend Belarus $10 billion to finance the project, but the former Soviet republic needs additional funds to make prepayments for some of the work. (Reuters)

... resignation of Samara Governor Vladimir Artyakov as well as three other regional bosses last week, in what many are seeing as a Kremlin ploy to remove unpopular leaders before gubernatorial elections in October. Nagovitsyn, who led the autonomous Buryatia republic since 2007, will leave his post on Saturday. Serdyukov will relinquish his duties on May 28. Serdyukov announced his resignation on his Twitter account Thursday, touting President Vladimir Putin's favorite, Alexander Drozdenko, as a possible...

... of Pyatigorsk. “According to current information, three children died in the accident and 18 people were injured. The victims’ ages are being verified,” the spokesman said. The school bus belongs to a music school in the neighboring republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, police said, RIA-Novosti reported. 179742

... legislature, Drozdenko will replace his current boss Valery Serdyukov, who has been head of the region since 1998 and whose term is scheduled to be up in July, RIA-Novosti reported. Medvedev on Saturday also reappointed Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn head of the republic of Buryatia, a post Nagovitsyn has held since July 2007, according to a statement on the Kremlin website. Elections chief Vladimir Churov said Saturday that at least two gubernatorial elections will be held on Oct. 14, the first such elections...

... oversight in the prosecutor's office, in an interview with legal magazine Prokuror, RIA-Novosti reported. Russia ranked as the most dangerous country in the world in which to fly in 2011, with nine crashes claiming 140 lives, surpassing even the Democratic Republic of Congo for aircraft-related fatalities. The top reason for airplane crashes in Russia is errors made by airline personnel, which are to blame in 80 percent of cases, Glebova said. She said an investigation showed that pilots were flying who...

... Arab dictator stranded in New York. Tajikistan's state film distribution company denied that the decision not to show “The Dictator,” which stars British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as 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...

... U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Azerbaijan, and the victors of the next semifinals, scheduled for Thursday. The competition between the 20 finalists will be held Saturday. The women, all above the age of 70, come from a village in the Udmurtia republic and have endeared themselves to the country with their mix of traditional singing in Russian and Udmurt with international music hits. They first tried out to represent Russia in 2010, but didn't win until this year, beating out previous Eurovision...

... experts, however, called the accusations "paranoid" and "hard to believe." The National Anti-Terrorist Committee said the Federal Security Service had discovered 10 caches of weapons and ammunition on May 4 to 5 in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia, which lies just kilometers from Sochi. The arms seized included portable surface-to-air missiles, grenade launchers, flame throwers, grenades, rifles, explosives and maps, it said. The terrorists were planning to smuggle the explosives...

... a phone call that he made to congratulate the Russian leader on winning the presidential election in March, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported at the time. Foreign Minister Lieberman, who speaks fluent Russian and is a native of the former Soviet republic of Moldova, visited Moscow shortly after disputed State Duma elections in December and declared that Israeli observers had found the vote "fair, free and democratic." Putin's first confirmed trip abroad as president will be to the United...