The wave of gubernatorial elections that swept over Russia in the past year has left the country with a stangely docile regional elite.

Drivers who can't prove that customs duties were paid on their luxury cars are in for a rough ride.

According to the Center for Geopolitical Research, the average candidate in the gubernatorial elections 2000 was ""strikingly similar"" to Putin.

President Vladimir Putin had proposed a bill that would bring the Criminal Code into line with the Constitution. He withdrew it Monday, reportedly under pressure from police.

With the notable exception of President Vladimir Putin — who maintains silence about any arrests — the whole nation has reacted with outrage to the arrest of Pavel Borodin.

Among the tank barriers that mark the Gerzel checkpoint between Russia’s Dagestan and tormented Chechnya, a ritual is repeated with oppressive regularity.

Unity party leader Boris Gryzlov said that Putin welcomed the idea of CNN founder Ted Turner buying a stake in NTV television.

Swiss prosecutors dealt a setback to former Kremlin aide Pavel Borodin on by refusing to withdraw the warrant that led to his arrest in New York.

Putin told visiting Israeli President Moshe Katsav that Russia would try to help reach peace in the Middle East and further boost ties with Israel.

Endangered vultures and tigers are among the latest victims of a bout of very cold weather in the Far East this winter.

After six months in a no-smoking zone, nicotine-craving lawmakers rebelled Tuesday, moving to overturn a ban on lighting up in the State Duma.

Russia intends to double defense expenditures if the U.S. deploys a national missile defense system.

German Beef Ban Russia has banned imports of live cattle from the German states of Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony due to fears about mad cow disease, the Agriculture Ministry said Tuesday. Reporters, Watch OutColombia and Russia are the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, a media watchdog group said Tuesday. Antarctic Station PlanAn Australian company said Tuesday it had won a contract to build a large scientific base for Russia in the Antarctic. Kiev Denounced A Paris-based international press rights group accused Ukrainian judicial authorities on Tuesday of serious failings in their probes into the disappearance of Georgy Gongadze, a journalist critical of President Leonid Kuchma.Smuggled Fish Seized Customs officers seized two trucks attempting to smuggle 3.5 tons of sturgeon and pickled jellyfish into China, officials said Tuesday.Reactor Shuts DownA reactor at the Smolensk nuclear plant was shut down Tuesday by its automatic safety system after an unexplained malfunction, according to an official statement.Ukraine Deputy DiesA member of Ukraine’s parliament was found dead from a gunshot wound in his office in eastern Ukraine, police said Tuesday. Guilty Caviar Plea When Elena Voronina told customs agents she intended to serve $20,000 worth of caviar at a children’s birthday party, they thought it sounded fishy.