News UK and Russia Trade Diplomats in Spy Row By Anna Arutunyan Tensions between Russia and the UK over the ongoing investigation into the poisoning death of former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko have escalated to a new level with the United Kingdom's decision to expel four Russian diplomats in response to Moscow's refusal to hand over Britain's chief suspect in the murder, Andrei Lugovoi. Russia responded with tit-for-tat measures Thursday, declaring four British diplomats persona non grata and giving them ten days to leave the country. The new conflict affected everything from visa regulations to anti-terrorism cooperation. But at the heart of the stalemate is not only Russia's firm stance on extradition, but also Britain's years-long refusal to hand over exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky, wanted by Moscow on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and an attempt to organize an armed uprising.

News Russia Boosts Ties With Hungary By Adam Klesczewski President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and Finnish President Tarja Halonen on Tuesday took part in the first international festival of the Finno-Ugric Peoples in the Mordovian capital Saransk.

News Bertelsmann Executive Murdered in Moscow MOSCOW (AFP, Reuters, MN) - The deputy director of German media giant Bertelsmann's Russian publishing house has been found stabbed to death with a precious dagger in her home near Moscow, local prosecutors and a company official said on Monday.

News Youth Group Investigated for Fueling Racism By Stephen Boykewich MOSCOW - An anti-immigrant campaign by a pro-Kremlin youth group prompted accusations of xenophobia Wednesday, as well as demands that the Russian prosecutor general look into the matter.

News Drunken Plane Brawl Forces Flight to Return to St. Petersburg ST. PETERSBURG (RIA Novosti) - A plane bound from St. Petersburg to Turkey was forced to return to Pulkovo airport after drunken passengers started a fight on board, transport police said last Friday.

News Secret Service to Regulate Foreign Investors A long-awaited bill regulating foreign investment in Russia will set rules for 39 "strategic sectors" while giving the secret service veto power over deals, Russian newspapers said Thursday. The law, which has been delayed and revised repeatedly since President Vladimir Putin ordered its drafting in 2005, was submitted to the Russian parliament for approval on Tuesday.

News U.S. Consul Denies Car Smuggling Report in East Russia VLADIVOSTOK (RIA Novosti) - The United States Consul General in Vladivostok in eastern Russia dismissed Thursday a local media report that American diplomats were involved in a car smuggling operation in the region from the U.S. and Japan.

News Russia’s ‘Superjet’ Set for Year-End Maiden Flight By Amelie Herenstein KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR, Russia - Engineers based in a remote city in far eastern Russia are racing to complete a new jet that is being billed as the great hope for the country's civil aviation industry.

National ‘Russian Hamas’ By Igor Dmitriyev In late June, a new movement appeared on the Russian political scene - the Russian People's Liberation Movement (PPLM, or just ‘The People'). Already at its founding conference, it put forward its own presidential candidate: Sergei Gulyayev, a leader of Another Russia's St. Petersburg organization and former deputy of the city legislature. In his words, PPLM is "a democratic movement in defense of social, economic and political freedoms, and against the Kremlin's policy."

National Putin Halts CFE Treaty, Ends Asymmetric Game By Anna Arutunyan President Vladimir Putin has set a moratorium on Russia's fulfillment of the CFE arms control treaty, a long-expected move seen by the West as part of Russia's policy of assertiveness on the world stage. But while Brussels and Washington expressed "disappointment" with the decision - which came two months after Putin initially raised the issue in part as a response to U.S. plans to build anti-missile defense systems near Russia's borders - at home it was perceived as Russia's only logical response after years of refusals by all other signatories to ratify the treaty.

National Ukraine’s NATO Membership Is Path to ‘Small’ Cold War By Sergei Markov The majority of NATO proponents in Ukraine believe that the admission process may only be accelerated in 2011, when Poland - a principal (after the U.S.) driving force behind this process - assumes the EU rotating presidency. Yet it is quite possible that Ukraine might join the alliance as early as 2008.

National Opposition Splits Ahead of Elections By Dmitry Bulin Mikhail Kasyanov, former Russian prime minister and now a vociferous critic of the governing authorities, announced his break with the opposition coalition Another Russia. Addressing the organizing committee of a new political party, called People for Democracy and Justice, Kasyanov said that he would not participate in the upcoming conference of Another Russia. In a later statement he said that the coalition had fulfilled its mission but had failed to reach a consensus with respect to a new stage in the political struggle.

CIS Thieves Tap Latvian Oil Pipeline RIGA (AFP) - Thieves in Latvia have tapped into a pipeline carrying oil from Russia to the Baltic state, setting up their own 1,800 meters duct to siphon off the black gold, police said Tuesday.

CIS Belarus Intelligence Chief Axed After Spy Scandal MINSK (AFP) - Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko Tuesday sacked his intelligence chief Stepan Sukhorenko but did not say if it was linked to the weekend discovery of a Polish spy ring in the country.

CIS Tajikistan to Charge Foreign Mountain Climbers DUSHANBE (AFP) - Foreign mountain climbers will now have to pay fees of as much as $100 (73 euros) to scale peaks in Tajikistan, an official said.