Tag: Russia

DAVOS - A former big investor in Russia, who accuses the government of stealing his firms and killing his lawyer, spoiled on Thursday a Russian show in Davos meant to woo investors. Bill Browder, who had around $4 billion invested in Russia through his Hermitage fund, says he had to flee Russia after accusing officials of corruption and saw some of his firms being stolen from him by Interior Ministry officials.
One of his lawyers, Sergei Magnitsky, died in jail last year from

MOSCOW - Russia's upper house of parliament ratified the new US nuclear disarmament treaty Wednesday, the final step in approving the first nuclear pact between the two former Cold War rivals in 20 years.
Senators at the Federation Council voted unanimously to approve the new START treaty, which US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed in Prague on April 8, 2010.
The new Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START) reduces old warhead ceilings

ISLAMABAD - Russia on Monday sought Pakistan's help in tracking down anti-Moscow militants from the Central Asian states, who have taken refuge in the country's Tribal Areas.
The Foreign Ministry officials from Pakistan and Russia held crucial talks on ways to increase cooperation in counter-terrorism and nuclear non-proliferation during the sixth meeting of the Pakistan-Russia Consultative Group on Strategic Stability.
The Pakistan delegation was headed by Additional

MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hosted his Belarus counterpart on Thursday for talks aimed at strengthening ties as the West moves to isolate Minsk over its post-election crackdown on the opposition.
The European Union said on Wednesday it would reinstate a travel ban on Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko if he fails to release his jailed opponents. Washington is also exploring a range of possible sanctions. The foreign minister of another Belarussian

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani and Russian authorities will meet next month to resolve the issue of refusal of Russian authorities to allow Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)'s 32 flights to cross Russia's airspace.
According to a source in the ministry of defense, the Russian authorities had desired to hold a meeting with Pakistani authorities after the latter warned that in case permission was not granted to PIA, the Russian designated carrier, Aeroflot, will not be allowed to

MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Thursday called for Iran to agree talks to clear up "grey areas" in its contested nuclear programme at a meeting with six world powers in Istanbul this month. In Istanbul, delegates must agree a talks agenda that is "all-inclusive" and covers "the questions of eliminating grey areas in the Iranian nuclear programme," Lavrov said. Iran will meet Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany for the talks on January 21-22.

HONG KONG - World number two Vera Zvonareva crushed five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in straight sets in Hong Kong Thursday as some of the world's top women prepared for the year's first Grand Slam.
Zvonareva's 6-4, 6-2 victory took Russia into a commanding 2-0 lead over the Americas at Hong Kong's World Team Challenge and the 26-year-old looked in scintillating form ahead of the Australian Open starting on January 17.
"It's an exciting moment for me. It's the

TEHRAN - Iran is to open its atomic sites to some world powers, officials announced on Tuesday, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted the West was wrong to confront Tehran over its nuclear programme.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in Tehran that invitations to visit Iran's nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak have been sent to ambassadors of some of the nations represented in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Diplomatic sources at

MOSCOW - Russia on Friday rejected the West's criticism of a court decision to keep Kremlin critic and ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in jail until 2017 in a case watched as a barometer of the country's democratic progress.
"The opinions expressed there (in the West) should not and absolutely do not affect the decisions taken by the judicial authorities of the Russian Federation," news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.
"They are independent of both

MOSCOW - Boney M frontman Bobby Farrell was found dead in his hotel room in St. Petersburg on Thursday, the day after a performance in the city where the band rose to stardom in the Soviet era, his agent said on Thursday.
"He did a show last night as part of Bobby Farrell's Boney M and they found him this morning dead in his hotel room,
" agent John Seine told Reuters by telephone from the Netherlands. Farrell was 61. "He did not feel well last night, and was having problems

MOSCOW - A judge raced against time on Wednesday to wrap up the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky by the New Year and deliver a sentence that could keep Russia's most famous inmate in prison for several more years.
Judge Viktor Danilkin Monday handed down a guilty verdict against Russia's former richest man and Kremlin critic, in a ruling condemned by the West. He is now reading the full judgement which will finally culminate in sentencing. "I'd be astonished if the verdict reading

MADRID - Spain has expelled two Russian diplomats in a move that triggered a tit-for-tat reaction from Moscow, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The two Russian embassy staffers were asked to leave the country for having "engaged in activities incompatible with their status," the ministry said in a statement.
In diplomatic language, the phrase is usually taken to mean spying.
The statement said the embassy was notified of the decision "about a month ago". "In

MOSCOW - Jailed Russian ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was found guilty of money laundering and theft of billions of dollars on Monday at a trial that has renewed doubts about the Kremlin's commitment to the rule of law.
Khodorkovsky's lead defence lawyer told Reuters he would appeal the verdict, which government critics say suggests longstanding Kremlin promises to reform a court system marred by corruption and political influence are insincere. Prosecutors are seeking an

MOSCOW - Russia on Thursday welcomed the US Senate's approval of a treaty slashing the nuclear missile arsenals of the Cold War foes, with parliament saying it could ratify the accord as early as this week.
US senators ratified Wednesday the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) after a months-long political battle, putting the ball firmly in the court of the Russian legislature to respond. President Dmitry Medvedev, who signed the treaty in Prague in April with his US

WASHINGTON: A landmark treaty on nuclear arms that will bind the United States and Russia is set for ratification Wednesday after an arduous Senate battle, handing President Barack Obama a major diplomatic triumph.
"We are on the brink of writing the next chapter in the 40-year history of wrestling with the threat of nuclear weapons," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair John Kerry after lawmakers Tuesday moved 67-28 to end debate on the new Strategic Arms Reduction

NEW DELHI: Russia and India on Tuesday agreed on a series of defence and nuclear deals potentially worth billions of dollars and pledged to deepen cooperation on counter-terrorism and regional security.
The agreements surrounded talks in New Delhi between visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Indian Premier Manmohan Singh, during which both sides set a target of doubling bilateral trade to 20 billion dollars by 2015. They also signed a contract envisaging the joint

WASHINGTON - A landmark US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty faced a key test vote in the US Senate as early as Tuesday as President Barack Obama ramped up pressure on wary lawmakers to back the accord.
Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wooed Republicans by telephone, lawmakers said Monday, as the top US uniformed officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, wrote a letter unreservedly backing the pact.
"This treaty has the full support of your