Blaze at Udarnik
The Associated PressFire broke out in one of Moscow's oldest and most noted cinemas on Tuesday, forcing evacuation of the building and reportedly causing substantial damage.
No casualties were reported in the blaze at the Udarnik cinema on an island in the Moscow River across from the Kremlin.
The fire destroyed about 150 square meters of the cinema, NTV television reported. A spokesman for the city fire department said he could not confirm that report.
The Udarnik was built in 1931. It was the first cinema in the Soviet Union to show sound films and was a showpiece for the communist state.
Fire Hits FSB Offices
ReutersA fire broke out in a building belonging to the Federal Security Service and news reports said at least one firefighter had been hurt.
Interfax said the fire started late Monday night in a sauna in the basement of a building adjacent to the FSB's Lubyanskaya Ploshchad headquarters in central Moscow and that Moscow fire chief General Leonid Korotchik was in charge of the operation. It suggested a wiring short circuit was to blame.
Up to 40 firefighting units were drafted to fight the blaze, which Itar-Tass said spread to the first and second floors. All those inside had been evacuated.
Witnesses saw firefighters later winding up their operation, shutting down hydrants and reeling in hoses.
Officials at the scene made no comment and there was no indication about the extent of the damage.
Gabon's Bongo Visits
The Associated PressThe leaders signed a six-page statement full of now-traditional Russian promises to promote a "multipolar world order" ?€” a sign of resistance to alleged U.S. dominance in the world ?€” and the authority of the United Nations. They also called for reform of the UN Security Council to improve geographical representation.
The statement noted Putin's praise for Bongo's mediation efforts in the Republic of Congo.
Putin suggested that Gabon invite Russian companies to help tap its oil and other mineral resources.
Sutyagin Trial Put Off
The Associated PressA Kaluga court resumed and then quickly postponed hearings in the espionage trial of Igor Sutyagin, an arms control researcher accused of spying for the United States, a court official said.
The court, after about 15 minutes of proceedings, decided on a postponement until May 21 because a defense lawyer is sick, said one of Sutyagin's attorneys, German Gavryunin. The case had been held up since late February for the same reason.
Journalists and the public were excluded from the court building during the brief session.
Sutyagin, who has been jailed since his arrest in 1999, says he had no access to secret information in his work as an academic researcher and therefore could not have been a spy.
Budanov Disruption
The Associated PressROSTOV-ON-DON, Southern Russia ?€” A judge hearing the case of Colonel Yury Budanov, charged with murdering an 18-year-old Chechen woman, tightened courtroom security Tuesday after a confrontation between the colonel's co-defendant and the victim's father.
Budanov is accused of abducting Elza Kungayeva from her family home near the Chechen village of Tangi-Chu and murdering her. Budanov has admitted strangling the young woman, but denies the killing was premeditated.
Judge Viktor Kostin ordered all future spectators to pass through a metal detector after defendant Lieutenant Ivan Fyodorov interrupted the victim's father, Vissa Kungayev, during his testimony. Fyodorov is on trial on charges of ordering subordinates to practice firing on Tangi-Chu.
The remark agitated several Chechen men in court, and they threatened Fyodorov.
The judge blamed Fyodorov for "indecent behavior," ordered the Chechens removed, and called for two more guards to secure order.
Last Arm Shipment
The Associated PressTBILISI, Georgia ?€” Russian soldiers loaded the last load of military gear on a train Tuesday for removal from their Vaziani base near Tbilisi, as the date for turning the base over to Georgia's military draws nearer.
Russia must hand over the base by July 1 under a 1999 agreement with Georgia. All heavy weapons including tanks and armored personnel carriers were removed last year.
The last train carrying support and medial equipment was scheduled to pull out of Vaziani at about 11 p.m. local time Tuesday, said Colonel Alexander Lutskevich, a spokesman for the Russian command.
The remaining 500 soldiers will be reduced to a skeleton crew of around 100 by mid-May, leaving only personnel needed to secure the base until handover, Russian officials say.
Russia agreed to turn over four military bases in Georgia at an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe summit in Istanbul in 1999, but the two countries are in dispute about a timeline.
Gorbachev Sees Bush
The Associated PressGorbachev, at the White House for a meeting with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, spoke briefly with Bush in the West Wing.
"It is definitely my impression that President Bush would like to meet with President [Vladimir] Putin, that he would like that meeting to happen as soon as reasonably possible," Gorbachev told reporters, with the help of an interpreter.
Bush "wants to work for a good and friendly relationship of cooperation between Russia and the United States," he said.
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