News Russia Stands Firm By Anna Arutunyan Russia's latest reaction in the Moscow-Lon­don standoff is pointing to a stalemate that is unlikely to be resolved soon. President Putin accused Britain of treating Russia like a colony, while Russian prosecutors said UK investigators had provided evidence that was full of holes regarding Andrei Lugovoi's involvement in the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. With the likelihood that either of the two sides will budge from their stances diminishing, it is becoming increasingly unclear what Britain was hoping to achieve by asking Russia to change its Constitution and extradite Lugovoi.

News Beaten Conscript Wakes from Coma By Anna Arutunyan Doctors in Yekaterinburg are struggling to save the life of Private Artyom Kaznacheyev, a conscript who had served just a month of mandatory service in the army before he was nearly beaten to death. On Monday Kaznacheyev was transferred from a hospital in the town of Nizhny Tagil, where his garrison was stationed, to a regional hospital in Yekaterinburg, where he awoke from a week-long coma.

News Anti-Nuclear Camp Attacked By Anna Arutunyan Angarsk is reeling from a bloody attack on a group of environmentalists who had set up camp on the outskirts of the Siberian town to protest plans to build a nuclear plant nearby. Both police and protesters suspect that local ultra-nationalists were behind the assault, in which one man was killed and seven others hospitalized. But despite 15 people in custody and promises by the governor to investigate, police have yet to figure out why a 20-strong gang armed with baseball bats and knives attacked 25 peaceful protestors and burned down their tents.

News Tu-154 Engine Fire A Russian aircraft bound for Noviy Urengoy Thursday experienced a fire in one of its engines before takeoff, RIA Novosti reported. The plane belongs to Dagestan Airlines. The accident happened at the Domodedovo airport at 4am [Moscow time]. After all three aircraft engines were launched, a backfire appeared in the tail engine.

News Students to Spend Additional Year In School VLADIVOSTOK (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law introducing a series of amendments into Russia's existing legislation, including a revision of the country's compulsory school education.

News North Korean Poachers Caught in Russian Waters VLADIVOSTOK (RIA Novosti) - The Russian coast guard detained two North Korean commercial vessels for violating Russian territorial waters and poaching in the Sea of Japan, according to Natalya Rondalyeva, a spokesperson for the border service. "Both vessels were observed by the border service's air surveillance unit in Russia's economic zone. The coordinates were passed by the air crew to the coast guard... both vessels were detained for illegally poaching squid." The vessels contained 700 kilograms of squid, and they were escorted to the port of Nakhodka for further investigation. The North Korean consulate in Nakhodka has been informed that 18 North Korean nationals were on board the vessels.

News Police Nab Counterfeiting Ring Russian police said they have intercepted and arrested a criminal group that illegally produced aircraft parts and sold them in Russia, as well as to other nations. "An organized group has been arrested for stealing components from the Saturn plant [in the Yaroslavl Region in central Russia] and producing and selling civil aircraft parts," a police spokesman said told reporters.

News House Speaker Predicts Putin will be President Again By Veronika Jeffries The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi will be opened by President Vladimir Putin, who by then will once again be Russia's president, Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov said Tuesday. While speaking to journalists in Novosibirsk, Mironov said that the Russian state is "beginning to slowly turn its face to the people" and the man responsible for implementing these changes is "Russian citizen Vladimir Putin."

News Two Killed in Helicopter Crash Near Moscow MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - A private helicopter crashed near Moscow Tuesday, and according to preliminary reports two people on board died, the emergencies ministry said.

National Gas Blast in St. Petersburg ST. PETERSBURG (RIA Novos­ti) - A section of a natural gas pipeline supplying St. Petersburg and the surrounding region exploded Thursday morning, but no one was injured, local emergency services said. The blast went off just after midnight.

National Russian North Pole Expedition Resumes A Russian ship carrying two parliament members to study the North Pole seabed resumed its voyage Thursday following a technical failure shortly after the mission's launch, an expedition official said.

National Black Earth Lures Foreign Farmers By Robin Paxton On Russia's fertile Black Earth, two Englishmen are making money where other investors saw only risk. Moscow needs investment to cut its dependence on food imports and, as the two Britons start turning a profit from the farm they have run for five years, others are being tempted to swap home for Russia's wide open lands.

National Chechnya: Ancient Land Disputes Rumble On By Abdul Itslayev Deputies of the People's Assembly of Chechnya and representatives of the republic's executive branch are in favor of drafting and adopting a bill on the principles of resolving land disputes on the territory of the Chechen Republic. In their opinion, unless the new law lays down mechanisms for nontraditional land conflict resolution, the republic will soon face a multitude of problems. It is impossible to solve them under the existing legislation because it does not take the region's specificity into account.

CIS Tajikistan Arrests Seven Uzbeks DUSHANBE (AFP) - Seven Uzbek nationals have been arrested in Tajikistan for planning attacks in the Central Asian country, a minister said Monday.

CIS Armenia Blocks Radio Liberty Broadcasts YEREVAN (AFP) - Armenia's state radio refused to extend the contract for broadcasting the US Congress-funded Radio Liberty's Armenian service, prompting fears of a clampdown on independent media.