Peacekeepers to Liberia
MOSCOW (AP) -- President Vladimir Putin has ordered 40 military officers to be sent to Liberia to serve in the United Nations' peacekeeping mission, the Kremlin said Monday.
Putin's order, which was released by the presidential press service, said the officers would serve in the mission's headquarters and also work as liaison officers and military observers.
The UN has deployed peacekeepers to help the West African country recover from a four-year civil war after an August cease-fire was agreed between rebels and the government. The peacekeeping contingent is slated to grow to 15,000.
Grenade Blast
VLADIKAVKAZ, North Ossetia (AP) -- One boy was killed and four others were injured in southern Russia when a hand grenade they were playing with exploded, emergency officials said Monday.
Two of the boys were in grave condition following the blast Sunday in the town of Bolta, 10 kilometers south of the regional capital, Vladikavkaz, said Sergei Schchetinin of the North Ossetia branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
The explosion occurred when the boys, all aged 13 or younger, were trying to open the grenade with a rock, Schchetinin said. Rescuers thought that the boys had discovered the grenade in one of their homes.
Pavlovsky to Pay $1M
MOSCOW (MT) -- Moscow's Solntsevsky district court ruled that political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky should pay 30 million rubles ($1 million) in damages to Mezhprombank founder Sergei Pugachyov, Vedomosti reported Monday.
The court supported the libel action brought by Pugachyov against Pavlovsky, and a number of printing and electronic media outlets, for publishing a report accusing the former banker of being behind a grab for power.
Pavlovsky, regarded as one of Moscow's most influential political spin doctors, accused a group led by Pugachyov and Kremlin officials Igor Sechin and Victor Ivanov of mounting "a creeping coup" and creating a "parallel center of power," the paper reported.
Pavlovsky, who was not present at the final court session, called the amount of damages awarded "absurd." Pavlovsky said he plans to appeal and hold a public investigation into the actions of Pugachyov's group after the State Duma elections.
Candidates Struck Off
MOSCOW (MT) -- Courts disbarred two opposition candidates from the State Duma elections over the weekend.
Yury Shefler, an exiled vodka tycoon, was struck off the Union of Right Forces' party list, while Anatoly Bykov, a former chairman of the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum plant, was barred from running as a Communist Party candidate for the Achinsk single-mandate district.
The Central Elections Commission requested the cancellation of Shefler's candidacy last week.
The court ruled that, based on Federal Security Service investigators' findings, Shefler had not signed his application in person, thus violating election procedures.
Shefler, who has lived outside Russia since the government wrested the country rights to Stolichnaya and other popular vodka brands from him last year, has said he will appeal the decision.
In the course of the fight over the vodka brands, prosecutors accused Shefler of threatening to kill a former deputy agriculture minister.
Bykov's opponent, United Russia candidate Alexander Klyukin, accused him of campaign violations and submitting invalid application papers. Bykov's registration was canceled by the Krasnoyarsk regional court on Sunday.
Transport via Donkey
MOSCOW (MT ) -- The Russian army will introduce a new form of military transport into the Caucasus -- the donkey, Interfax reported Sunday.
The Northern Caucasus military district has plans to buy 150 donkeys to transport equipment in the mountains in the fight against Chechen rebels, the agency reported.
A donkey can carry 60 percent of its own body weight and travel at 3.5 to 4 kilometers per hour, a member of the military district's veterinary service said.
Each animal costs between 3,000 and 6,000 rubles ($100-$200).
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