Local The Mystery Metro By Daria Chernyshova The Moscow Metro has always been regarded as the most beautiful underground system in the world. Its magnificent marble surfaces, decoration and art fit for a museum truly makes it one of the most incredible things about the city

Local Nurturing Russia’s business elite By Daria Chernyshova In Soviet times, with an army of youth organizations to choose from, it was not difficult for adolescents to find ways to occupy their free time.

Local Photo exhibition to show the face of war in Georgia and South Ossetia MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Photos taken by RIA Novosti photojournalists during the five-day conflict between Georgia and the breakaway republic of South Ossetia will go on display at a photo exhibition in Moscow.

Local Murder and Mayhem By Phoebe Taplin On the weekends around Hallo­ween, why not explore the spookier side of Moscow? This week's walk starts off pumpkin-hunting in the Dorogomilovsly Market and ends in the beautiful Vagankovskoe Cemetery, full of golden maple trees.

Columnists How to Survive in Moscow during a crisis By Robert Bridge Amidst the smoldering ruins of financial fallout, I decided to drown my sorrow and smoking Visa card in that modern lake of hedonism known somewhat hyperbolically as The Mega Mall in the southeast of the metropolis.

National This week in Russian history...24-30 October

National Russia to overhaul military, cut troops By Anna Arutunyan In one of the most radical moves yet to reform Russia's Armed Forces, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced plans to drastically cut the proportion of officers to servicemen and restructure the military into a brigade system in order to raise efficiency and create an army that is more responsive to today's threats.

National US, Russia hold fence-mending military talks HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - The top U.S. military officer held "businesslike" talks on Georgia, Afghanistan and missile defense with his Russian counterpart Tuesday, a signal of thawing relations between the two powers.

National Disabled woman wins lawsuit against airline By Kirill Bessonov A disabled Russian woman has won a lawsuit against an airline company that forbade her taking her wheelchair inside of the aircraft cabin.

National Europe’s largest mosque opens in Chechnya GROZNY (RIA Novosti) - One of the largest mosques in the world, named after Chechnya's first president, was inaugurated on Friday in the North Caucasus republic in a lavish ceremony attended by dignitaries from 28 countries.

National Government forces airport to lower parking fare By Andy Potts Picking up your friends from the airport just got cheaper thanks to an agreement between car park operators at Domodedovo and the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service.

National No need to hoard By Andy Potts It's been a long time since Moscow's streets were lined with queues of hungry shoppers waiting to buy whatever food they could find - and it will be a long time before it happens again, according to deputy chief of the city's service department Vladimir Malyshkov.

National Deripaska involved in UK political row By Anna Arutunyan A political scandal brewing on the pages of the British press has pitted Conservative official George Osborne against hedge fund manager Nathaniel Rothschild over allegations of soliciting money from Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

National Billionaire Abramovich elected to head Chukotka legislature VLADIVOSTOK (RIA Novosti) - Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was approved unanimously on Wednesday to chair the legislature of Chukotka in Russia's Far East, the local government said on its website.

World Financial crisis divides EU on greenhouse gas cuts By George Jahn What price clean air, sparkling streams, stately chestnut trees along busy avenues? In some ways it depends on whether you are a citizen of Old or New Europe.