Taking out a loan from a Russian bank and then skipping the country may not carry serious repercussions, as local banks do not yet share individuals' credit history internationally.

How much tax do you pay on dividends?

With much fanfare, the world's two nuclear superpowers announced in 1998 that they would destroy 68 tons of plutonium stripped from bombs and warheads.

A Russian-made waxwork of Adolf Hitler exhibited by a survivor of the Siege of Leningrad has caused a storm of protest in Berlin, where city politicians said the figure could attract the wrong kind of visitor.

A Russian businessman living in Latvia has purchased a royal crown that once belonged to the Romanov dynasty and will return it to Russia, according to the bank that safeguards the item.

Recovered Painting TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Police have recovered a 16th-century German painting stolen a decade ago from the Georgian Art Museum, the independent TV channel Imedi reported. The painting ""Procuress"" by Lucas Cranach the Elder was found in Tbilisi, Interior Minister Georgy Baramidze told Imedi on Monday. He declined to give further information, saying details about the rescue operation would be released later. Cranach's paintings, many of them assessed as worth millions of dollars, have been targets of theft in several countries. The museum's deputy director, Gia Marsagishvili, said on the broadcast that ""Procuress"" could have fetched more than $40 million at auction. 3 Tourists Killed CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- A microbus rolled over on a highway, killing six people including three Russian tourists, police said Tuesday.

Kumtor Operating Co. may not be among the world's largest gold producers. But when it sneezes, Kyrgyzstan's moribund economy catches the flu.

Uzbekistan, berated by hesitant investors for half-hearted reforms, will boost privatization of its energy sector and sell a stake in Uzbekneftegaz oil and gas holding by the end of 2004, the government said on Tuesday.

Ten years ago today a cease-fire halted a conflict that most of the world has now forgotten. But the decade of quiet emanating from the Armenian-Azeri front line around Nagorny Karabakh should not deceive us that there is lasting peace there.

President Vladimir Putin has spared no energy in elevating Akhmad Kadyrov after his death and anointing his son as his spiritual successor.