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Chechen lawyer Dagir Khasavov fled Russia after receiving death threats following his calls for Sharia law to be introduced in the country. The Russian Political Immigrants society announced on Friday that he swiftly left the country, BBC reported. The lawyer left for “a European country” after receiving threats. His son, Arlsan Khasavov, wrote in his blog that his father was provoked, possibly by Chechen authorities, to make him a “ritual sacrifice” before the inauguration. Khasanov gave an interview to Ren TV on April 24, where he said that Muslims in Russia do not want to go to secular courts and...

An alleged CIA agent has been briefly detained in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer, Russian media report. The alleged agent was held overnight before released to US officials, Russia's Federal Security Service said. He is said to have been working as a secretary at the US embassy in Moscow. The man was reportedly arrested with a large sum of money, technical devices and written instructions for the agent he had tried to recruit. He was named as Ryan Fogle, said to be a third secretary at the US embassy in Moscow. There is no comment...

MOSCOW – The U.S. Secretary of State’s motorcade often halts traffic when he travels abroad, but today it proved no match for columns of Russian tanks, ICBMs and armored personnel carriers. Secretary John Kerry arrived in Moscow for meetings with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but he had to cool his heels at the airport for about 30 minutes because a rehearsal for an upcoming military parade was blocking his route downtown. Every May 9, Russians celebrate Victory Day, marking their triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II. Moscow hosts an annual parade in Red Square...

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The Polonium Diversion At least a dozen people have been contaminated by the rare radioactive isotope Polonium 210. The list includes Alexander Litvinenko, the ex-Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB who died from a dose of Polonium 210 in London on November 23rd; Andrei Lugovoi, a former colleague of Litvinenko in the KGB, who met with Litvinenko at the Pine bar of the Millennium Hotel in London the day he became ill, November 1st; Dmitry Lugovoi, Lugovoi’s business associate, who also attended that November 1st meetings; 7 employees of the Millennium Hotel; Mario Scaramella, an Italian security consultant, who dined with...

Ramón Mercader from Barcelona killed Trotsky with an ice axe in Mexico City. On 20th August 1940, the exiled Leon Trotsky was fatally wounded at his home in a suburb of Mexico City when an ice axe was driven into his skull. He cried out to his guards as they burst into his study, ‘Don’t kill him! He must talk.’ Despite struggling fiercely, and even managing to bite the hand of his assassin, Trotsky died the next day, and the man who wielded the murder weapon was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He insisted throughout his trial and his...

Prayers go out to the famlies of the 4/8 Red Wings crew lost when their Tu-204 overshot a runway yesterday in Moscow- yet with no passengers on-board this one could have been a whole lot worse:[YouTube]

On the night of December 24, Roman Catholics and members of several other Christian denominations celebrated Christmas Eve. In the late hours of December 24, the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in Russia – the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin – was full of people. With an exclamation of the priest, “Christ is born!”, which was joyfully repeated by the people, the holiday mass began.

U.S. President Barack Obama (silhouetted in car window) and his family return after his re-election, to the White House in Washington, November 7, 2012. MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited newly re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Moscow next year.​​Mr. Putin’s outstretched hand contrasts to the cold shoulder offered President Obama four years ago, at the time of the American’s first election. At that time, Europe was swept with Obama-mania. But the Kremlin responded to Barack Obama’s election by announcing that Russia would install missiles in Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost territory. Alexander Romanovich, a Duma deputy who is...

Turkey seized "objectionable cargo" aboard the Syrian passenger plane which it intercepted en route from Moscow to Damascus on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, according to an AFP report. "There is illegal cargo on the plane that should have been reported" in line with civil aviation regulations, Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. "There are elements on board that can be considered objectionable," he added, without elaborating. The confiscated cargo might be missile parts, NTV news channel reported. The plane, carrying 35 passengers on board, would be allowed to leave soon, Davutoglu said. Meanwhile,...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.fbi.gov/houston/press-releases/2012/russian-agent-and-10-other-members-of-procurement-network-for-russian-military-and-intelligence-operating-in-the-u.s.-and-russia-indicted-in-new-york Russian Agent and 10 Other Members of Procurement Network for Russian Military and Intelligence Operating in the U.S. and Russia Indicted in New York Defendants Also Include Texas- and Russia-Based Corporations; 165 Persons and Companies ‘Designated’ by Commerce Department U.S. Attorney’s Office October 03, 2012 BROOKLYN, NY—An indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging 11 members of a Russian military procurement network operating in the United States and Russia, as well as a Texas-based export company and a Russia-based procurement firm, with illegally...

AFP - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was expected in Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Russian leaders on his first major foreign visit since the killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will host Zardari for talks on Thursday at the Kremlin where officials from the two countries were also expected to sign agreements on cooperation in agriculture, aviation and energy, a spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Moscow told AFP. "Economics will be the focus of the visit," said the spokesman, Raja Abdul Qayyum. The three-day visit to Russia will be Zardari's first...

When a biographer sets out to understand a president, he naturally begins with mentors, the people who helped shape his character, career and worldview, notes author Paul Kengor. But when it comes to explaining Barack Obama, the establishment media has shown virtually no interest in delving into the life of the man the president himself held up as a guiding and affirming voice at every major point in his life.

Communism has continued to swallow countries because resistance to Communism fell away after 1991.The adoption of a private property system in Russia did not signify the triumph of capitalism. It signified a new kind of danger which involves the subversion of capitalism through capitalism itself argues sovietologist J.R. Nyquist.

Moscow city courts have upheld a ruling that in essence bans gay pride parades in that city for 100 years. The decision was rendered this week and already the Russian LGBT community is planning to fight it. In response to Moscow's earlier ruling that they would ban gay pride parades for 100 years, Russian LGBT rights leader Nikolay Alekseyev had sought a permit to have pride parades in Moscow each year until 2112. Moscow's municipal courts denied his request and now the appeal of that verdict has been lost. LGBT to challenge in European Court of Human Rights Alekseyev and...

THE DEAD BABY MEDIA If the text on that one is too small for you, it's a CNN piece headlined, "Why the Syrian regime is killing babies." There's not much to add to that. The Syrian regime may be killing babies, but CNN killed journalism. With some help from the New York Times, the Washington Post and the BBC. Anyone who has spent time in the Middle East knows quite well that parading around dead bodies is part of the Muslim ceremony of rallying for the next attack. These aren't funerals, these are corpse parades and the corpses are often...

Important speech by Cardinal Koch to Aid to the Church in Need conference

Tens of thousands of Orthodox Christians have joined a service outside Moscow’s main church, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, in defense of their faith, sacred objects and the Church itself, following recent numerous attacks on Christian relics. The Sunday service has gathered around 65 thousand worshippers, according to official police data. It comes in response to what the church says is a series disrespectful acts against Orthodoxy and religious faith over the past few months. Sacred Orthodox objects attacked this spring were specially brought to the Cathedral for one day. Among the relics is a 3.5-metre-tall crucifix cut by...

Gallery: Familiar-yet-alien Soviet arcade games While playing Centipede (don't judge) at my local mall in the '80s, it never occurred to me that somewhere behind the soon-to-fall Iron Curtain there would be some punk playing the Soviet version of arcade games as well. Hell yeah they were! Now, thanks to two nostalgic Muscovites who remembered their days of playing "Sea Battle," there is an entire museum full of these Soviet-era games. The story of the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines is so cool we couldn't make this up if we tried. Let's talk about the games first. Soviet classics Sea...

Moscow police have detained a Canadian national named Michael Jackson on charges of attempting to steal a wallet from a woman in the capital’s underground, the police reported on its website. The 50-year-old was caught red-handed at an underground station in southeastern Moscow on Monday as he pulled the wallet from the woman’s pocket, the report said. An investigation is under way. If found guilty, Jackson faces a fine of up to 200,000 rubles ($6,500) and a prison term of up to five years.