Russia:

10/18/2007 | 02:51 PM
MOSCOW - Russia on Thursday carried out a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The Topol RS-12M rocket hit its intended target on Kamchatka near the Pacific Ocean, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces said in a statement.

The launch, from the Plesetsk launch facility in northern Russia, was part of the country's plan to upgrade its ballistic missiles and extend the life of its Topol missiles, it said.

Thursday's successful test will allow Russia to maintain the Topol rocket for 21 years, the statement said, significantly higher than the original 10 years.

''Extending the service life of the Topol missile class will allow for the replacement of rockets being phased out with a new generation of rocket without putting a burden on the military budget,'' the statement said. - AP  <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/64947/Russia-successfully-test-launches-missile>

Russia has successfully tested a new, sea-based ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine, officials have said.

The weapon, capable of breaching anti-missile defence systems, flew almost the whole length of the country. US plans to build a missile defence shield in Europe have angered Russia, which sees the proposal as a challenge to its influence in the region. The Russian test comes as President Vladimir Putin heads for the US to meet President George W Bush on Sunday. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6251082.stm>

By Martin Vennard, Moscow

It survived the revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union, but the historic Red October chocolate factory in central Moscow is powerless to resist the seemingly relentless redevelopment of the Russian capital.

Situated by the Moscow River, opposite the city's main cathedral and with views of the Kremlin, the Red October factory - Krasny Oktyabr in Russian - sits on some of the most expensive real estate in Russia. By the end of the year, the factory's production lines, which first started up at the end of the 19th Century, will have been moved out to the suburbs to make way for luxury loft apartments. The company says the move is in line with the Moscow authorities' policy of moving industrial units out of the centre, and that its new factory will be more modern and efficient. But some Muscovites see the move as part of the changes that have vastly altered the cityscape under Mayor Yury Luzhkov, in the 15 years since the end of communism. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6249536.stm>

By Jonathan Marcus
BBC diplomatic correspondent

President Vladimir Putin's decision to suspend Russia's participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe, or CFE, treaty is a potent political signal.

It is yet another sign of the worsening relationship between Moscow and the West.

It shows that this relationship was not improved in any substantial way by the informal meeting at the start of this month between the US and Russian presidents at the Bush family's holiday home at Kennebunkport in Maine.

It is another diplomatic warning shot from Mr Putin across the bows of the Bush administration.

And with crucial issues like Iran's nuclear programme and the political future of Kosovo looming at the United Nations, it raises a new set of questions about how far Russia might go to block initiatives backed by Washington and its key allies. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6898897.stm>

Polish President Lech Kaczynski has said parts of a US missile defence system will be built in Poland despite fierce Russian objections to the plan.

 After talks with US President George W Bush, Mr Kaczynski said it was "a foregone conclusion" that interceptor missiles would be based in Poland. Mr Kaczynski tried to reassure Moscow that the plan was not aimed at Russia.
 Russia has threatened to point missiles at Europe if the US stations parts of a new missile shield near its borders. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6902183.stm>

The BBC's James Rodgers examines the contrasting stances of Western and Russian journalists at a time of heightened rhetoric.

He also admires the glittering churches of Suzdal and worries about Moscow's hot water. His diary is published fortnightly. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6922516.stm>

Two-fifths of Europe's gas supplies come from Russia

European watchdogs have launched a formal investigation of German energy firm E.On and Gaz de France (GDF) over claims of anti-competitive practices.

The European Commission is studying whether the two agreed not to sell gas in each other's home markets.

E.On and GDF said they were cooperating with the probe. They could be fined if they have broken European laws.  <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6922434.stm>

Russian bombers have flown to the US Pacific island of Guam in a manoeuvre reminiscent of the Cold War era.

Two Tu-95 turboprops flew this week to Guam, home to a big US military base, Russian Maj Gen Pavel Androsov said, a story confirmed by the US.

They "exchanged smiles" with US pilots who scrambled to track them, he added.

The sorties, believed to be the first since the Cold War ended, come as Russia stresses a more assertive foreign policy, correspondents say.

The flight is part of a pattern of more expansive Russian military operations in recent weeks, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6938856.stm>

In the first of a series from southern Russia, the BBC's Steven Eke reports on the Cossacks, who have emerged as an influential political group in the region, strongly supportive of Vladimir Putin and his idea of Russia's "greatness".

The Cossacks play an increasingly important role in Russia. Their disciplined way of life, patriotism, large families and commitment to work, are seen by many politicians as a model that could help resolve many of Russia's problems. For this, they receive support from the very top. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6937562.stm>

The BBC's James Rodgers describes the impression Anna Politkovskaya made on him, as Russia digests the prosecutor general's revelations about her murder.

He also talks to a Bolshevik who not only reveres Lenin and Stalin but also praises the late Diana, Princess of Wales. His diary is published fortnightly. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6966543.stm>

By Tom Esslemont
BBC News, Baikal region

Rough road near Lake Baikal

The local infrastructure has been neglected for decades

Russia's cherished Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia is becoming a magnet for the tourist industry as energy revenues fuel an economic boom in this neglected region.

The lake, nicknamed "the Pearl of Siberia", is the world's largest body of fresh water. It is already a desirable holiday destination, in many places untouched apart from a few settlements and log cabin resorts.

The infrastructure is currently too poor to support large volumes of traffic. But the pins on Viktor Grigorov's map of Baikal indicate he plans to change that. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6982271.stm>

Investigators in Kazakhstan have found a huge crater and debris from a Russian rocket which crashed in unpopulated countryside on Thursday.

The Proton-M rocket was carrying a Japanese communications satellite.

Fragments weighing up to 400kg (880 lb) and a crater 45 metres (49 yards) wide were found in a cattle-grazing area near the city of Dzhezkazgan.

Further Proton launches have been suspended. The rocket was carrying highly toxic fuel when it crashed.

The Russian space agency Roskosmos says a rocket booster motor malfunctioned shortly after launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

A similar crash happened in late July, involving a Russian Dnepr rocket. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6983835.stm>

Analysis
By Jorn Madslien
Business reporter, BBC News

A year after Gazprom chief Alexei Miller loftily declared that it would develop the world's largest offshore gas field "without international participation", the Russian energy giant appears to have changed its mind.

Gazprom chief Alexei Miller and Russian President Vladimir Putin
Mr Miller and Mr Putin are still in charge

It has now emerged that the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea will probably be developed jointly by a group of international energy giants that will take ownership stakes in the $20bn (£10bn) project. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6981166.stm>

A former aide to the UN's top war crimes prosecutor says Russia and the US blocked the arrest of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic.

The former aide, Florence Hartmann, makes the allegation in memoirs published in France.

Former French President Jacques Chirac wanted Mr Karadzic arrested but was dissuaded by the then US President Bill Clinton in May 1997, she writes.

Russia would not let the West arrest Mr Karadzic, she alleges.

Mr Clinton was supported by Britain and Germany, according to Ms Hartmann, who was spokeswoman for the UN tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, for six years up to last year.

Mr Karadzic remains a fugitive. He and his military chief, Ratko Mladic, are wanted on genocide charges by the UN tribunal in The Hague. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6986858.stm>

By James Rodgers
BBC News, Moscow

"If they hadn't caught me, I would never have stopped, never. They saved a lot of lives by catching me."

Alexander Pichushkin was arrested last year. In jail, awaiting trial, he spoke to a Russian TV channel.

It is called the case of the "Bitsevsky maniac", after a park in southern Moscow. It was here, among the trees, that a serial killer stalked his victims.

No-one is sure of the exact number.

Pichushkin has been charged with 49 murders, and three attempted murders.

He boasts that he killed 61 people - 60 of them in Bitsevsky Park. Media reports have quoted investigators as saying they believe he wanted to kill one person for each of the 64 squares on a chessboard. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6987688.stm>

By Adam Blenford
BBC News, London

Vladimir Putin is many things: former KGB agent, confident world leader and keen judo player to name but three.

His role as a saviour of experimental photography is less well known.

Lomography photographs in Trafalgar Square, London

The congress hopes to convert people to Lomography

Yet a bizarre-sounding meeting in 1995 between Mr Putin and a group of Austrian photography experimentalists today underpins a growing photographic movement that occupies the narrow space between the worlds of art and commerce.

Then mayor of St Petersburg, the man who would soon be Russian president gave an audience to the Austrians to hear their pleas.

They had recently started selling refurbished Soviet-era cameras from the Leningrad Optics and Mechanics Association (Lomo) to enthusiasts around the world.

Business was growing, but Lomo wanted out of the deal. The Austrians needed Mayor Putin to bail them out. They succeeded.

Lomo got a tax break, Lomo's Director Ilya Klebanov eventually became a deputy prime minister, and the Austrian company, the Lomographic Society, stayed in business. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7007160.stm>

By Nick Thorpe
BBC News, Budapest

The European Commission has expressed concern about Russian plans to acquire gas pipelines and other strategic assets, but the Russians have already been buying up energy and other firms, particularly in countries which used to be part of the Soviet Union.

"How many tank divisions has the Pope?" Josef Stalin is reported to have asked when it was suggested to him that he might make a conciliatory gesture towards the Vatican.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo: AP/ITAR-Tass/Presidential Press Service/Mikhail Klimentyev)
Putin's influence has grown with Russia's resurgent economy

It is a phrase which Jefim Fistejn, the head of the Russia desk at Radio Free Europe in Prague, quotes with relish today when I ask him about President Vladimir Putin's approach to eastern Europe. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7002511.stm>

By Artyom Liss
BBC News, Moscow

Over half of Russians asked about global warming say they haven't heard much about it, according to a BBC World Service poll of 22,000 people in 21 countries.

Russian woman in hat, coat and scarf

It's not easy to grow tomatoes in northern Russia

The Russian media focus on what seem to be more pressing problems.

There are burning social issues, there's uncertainty about the security, there's a falling-out with the West, and, crucially, it is a very cold country.

A meteorologist in Arkhangelsk, in the north of Russia, once told me: "I know global warming is a problem, but I would welcome a bit of warmth up here. Then I could grow my own tomatoes." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7011055.stm>

Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the possibility of becoming a future prime minister by agreeing to enter the December parliamentary polls.

Mr Putin, who must leave office as president next year, said suggestions he might seek to become Russian prime minister were "entirely realistic".

He told a congress of United Russia that he would head the party's list though not actually become a member.

By being on the list he is guaranteed a seat in the next parliament.

The BBC's Mike Sanders says Mr Putin's announcement comes as a shock, but is the clearest indication yet that he is determined to stay at the centre of power in Russia. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7022474.stm>

A Russian satellite has been launched into space - the first man-made object ever to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

The Russian news agency, Tass, said the satellite Sputnik was now 560 miles (900 kilometres) above the Earth and circling it every hour-and-a-half.

Scientists predict the metal sphere will eventually burn up in the atmosphere but they hope it will send important data back to Earth before doing so.

The Soviet Union and the USA have both committed to launching satellites for research as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY). <http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/4/newsid_2685000/2685115.stm>

By Tom Esslemont
BBC News, eastern Siberia

Evenki hunter and son with dog

Traditional Evenk are dependent on the region's wildlife

Russia is forging ahead with ambitious energy projects in eastern Siberia, but the indigenous Evenk people are complaining that their age-old way of life is in danger. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7029666.stm>

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Moscow

Russia's Vladimir Putin is due to stand down as president next year, but there is a growing recognition within the international community that his political influence could last much longer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Dmitry Medvedev (L) (Photo: Vladimir Rodionov/AFP/Getty Images)
Could Dmitry Medvedev (l) replace Vladimir Putin when he steps down?
For the last two years, one of the favourite pastimes of Moscow's hacks and Kremlin watchers has been laying odds on who will replace him when he steps down. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7041018.stm>

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Moscow

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Russia and the US remain far apart after talks in Moscow

It is not unusual for senior diplomats to disagree. It is, however, extremely unusual to see them do so as obviously and as publicly as the Russians and the Americans have done in Moscow.

As Condoleezza Rice and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, sat down to face the world's media you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7042675.stm>

By Richard Galpin
BBC Moscow correspondent

Alexander Pichushkin entering a Moscow courtroom

His mother blamed the killing spree on a childhood bang on the head

The Russian man known as the "chessboard killer," Alexander Pichushkin, will be sentenced on Thursday after a jury in Moscow found him guilty of killing 48 people and attempting to murder three others.

During the six-week trial at Moscow City Court Mr Pichushkin confessed to murdering more than 60 people in a killing spree which lasted more than a decade. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7060989.stm>

By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Moscow

One of the most famous dissidents from the former Soviet Union, Vladimir Bukovsky, has called on Russians to take to the streets in a mass protest against their government, similar to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine almost two years ago.

Vladimir Bukovsky

Mr Bukovsky says Soviet-style repression is alive in today's Russia

Mr Bukovsky, who was imprisoned for more than a decade by the Soviet authorities for his opposition activities, was speaking during his first visit to Russia since President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000.

"With every month it [Russia] becomes more and more like the former Soviet Union, with the return of political repression, political prisoners and even the return of the abuse of psychiatry for political repression," he told the BBC.

Mr Bukovsky flew back to Moscow from his home in the English city of Cambridge to publicise his plan to run as a candidate in presidential elections due to be held in March next year.

During his five-day visit he accused the security services of "taking over practically every sphere of government", adding it was "very painful to see the return of the old days". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7062570.stm>

Vladimir Putin at the EU summit in Portugal

Mr Putin has pledged to boost Russia's defences

Russian President Vladimir Putin has compared US plans for a missile shield in Europe to the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960s.

The crisis saw the US and Soviet Union go to the brink of nuclear war.

Mr Putin, at a summit with EU leaders in Portugal, said the situation was "technologically similar".

But he argued there would be no repeat because Russia and the US were "not enemies anymore... we are partners" and President Bush was a "personal friend".

The 1962 stand-off was triggered when US spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba, within striking distance of the American mainland.

Moscow's decision to deploy these weapons in Cuba was at the time seen as a response to the build-up of powerful US missiles in Europe.

Tensions were only defused when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the bases in return for guarantees that Washington would not attack communist Cuba. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7064428.stm>

Vladimir Putin

Mr Putin last week said OSCE observers would be invited

Russia is seeking "unprecedented" curbs on monitors observing its parliamentary polls, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) says.

A Russian letter calls for consultation on the OSCE delegation's composition and for its size to be limited.

"This is not business as usual," an OSCE spokeswoman says, adding that the letter may seriously limit the chance for "meaningful observation".

The OSCE international security body often sends monitors to elections.

Its 56 member states come from Europe, Central Asia and the Americas.

The body typically sends a delegation of election observers to a country after receiving an official invitation.

The OSCE says it does not enter into discussions on the size and composition of the delegation.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7071153.stm>

BBC breaking news graphic

International election watchdog, the OSCE, says it will not send monitors to Russia's parliamentary polls, saying its staff had been denied entry visas.

The body blamed "delays and restrictions" in securing permission to enter Russia for its decision.

The OSCE last month accused Moscow of placing "unprecedented curbs" on its mission to monitor the elections.

Parties loyal to President Vladimir Putin are widely expected to win the 2 December vote. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7098015.stm>

Moscow street scene, with election poster for United Russia

Six Russian panellists give their views on how their country has changed under President Vladimir Putin, ahead of parliamentary elections in December.

The pro-Putin United Russia party is expected to emerge as the dominant force in the lower chamber of parliament, the Duma. The opposition says the polls will not be fair, as the electoral system has been engineered to boost parties loyal to the president.

Though Mr Putin steps down as president next year, he has indicated he could remain in politics by applying to become prime minister.

The BBC's Artyom Liss in Moscow has compiled these viewpoints. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7093130.stm>

By James Rodgers
BBC News, Moscow

A Mercedes car coated in Swarovski diamonds

Standout items include a diamond-encrusted Mercedes

A trip to Russia used to be the style equivalent of being sent to Siberia.

Now there's such a market for luxury goods that Moscow hosts an annual "Millionaire Fair" to show the wealthy how they might choose to spend their cash.

Ladas are no longer the limit.

There are big cars for top tycoons, and toys for the rich boys.

If you don't want to risk getting stuck in Moscow's ever-worsening traffic jams, there are plenty of helicopters to choose from.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7109164.stm>

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has backed First Deputy PM Dmitry Medvedev to replace him as president next year, Russian media report.

His name was put forward by United Russia, A Just Russia, the Agrarian Party and Civil Force, at a meeting with President Putin.

Commenting on the choice, Mr Putin said "I have known him for more than 17 years, I have worked with him very closely all these years, and I fully and completely support this candidacy". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7136347.stm>

Russian President Vladimir Putin should become prime minister after stepping down next year, his chosen successor Dmitry Medvedev says.

"I appeal to (President Putin) with a request to give his agreement in principle to head the Russian government after the election of the new president of our country," Mr Medvedev said on Russian television on Tuesday.
"It's one thing to elect a president - it's no less important to maintain the efficiency of the team," he said.

In less than a decade Russia has become known for its vast energy reserves and blossoming economy, fuelled by income from its vast natural resources.

By Tim Whewell

If there were a prize for the world's sulkiest state, it would surely go to Russia.

Enter the Kremlin, and you get an overwhelming sense of a great power that has been deeply offended.

Tense relations: "We always try to smile at one another"

"We always try to smile at one another," President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko says wearily when I ask about the atmosphere at recent Russian-American summits.

"But we've asked many questions, and we haven't got answers."

He is talking about the deepening chill in East-West relations over the last year, a chill some see as the prelude to a new Cold War.

The Kremlin has a simple explanation: America, it believes, has never given up its ambition to contain Russia. And the eastward expansion of the Nato alliance is designed to achieve that.

But Washington dismisses those claims as mere bluster, aimed at reasserting Russian control of an Eastern European empire it lost with the fall of the Soviet Union. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7252678.stm>