Three 11th-century wax tablets may be the oldest written artifacts ever unearthed in Russia.

The speaker of the Chechen parliament was arrested months ago, but authorities say he is not in custody.

Boris Berezovsky's proposal is just another reminder that press freedom remains a distant prospect.

Boris Berezovsky's letter to Putin asks why his ORT shares and freedom of speech are on the line.

Communications minister decrees conversations with clients will be overheard by seven security agencies.

Hundreds of villages across the north were simply depopulated during the 20th century. Kimzha has survived.

More than 200 people have died in fires in Moscow this year despite a sharp decrease in the number of blazes over the past eight months, the city’s top firefighter said Tuesday. Moscow fire chief Leonid Korotchik said that 212 people died in fires from January to August, a figure "" slightly higher"" than the number of fire fatalities registered in the capital of 9 million people over the same period last year. Korotchik said firefighters had fought 9,704 blazes from January through August this year, 1,208 less than in 1999. In comparison, 93 people have died in some 75,000 fires in New York so far this year, according to Dave Billig, press officer for the New York City Fire Department. New York has a population of about 8 million. Korotchik credited a city government decision last year to lock cellars and basements for contributing to the drop in the number of fires. Moscow ordered the lockdown after two apartment building blasts killed more than 200 people last fall.

Russia and Japan look set to remain in a technical state of war for some time to come following the failure of their leaders this week to seal a peace treaty.