Free Republic

CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that Russian President Dimitri Medvedev wants to send a Russian naval fleet to visit Venezuela. "Russia has informed us they intend to visit Venezuela, that is, the intention that a Russian fleet should come to the Caribbean," Chavez said on his weekly radio program. "I told the president (Medvedev), 'If you're coming to the Caribbean, we'll welcome you,'" Chavez said, adding that the Russian naval fleet would pay "a friendly and working" visit to Venezuela. Under leftist President Chavez, Venezuela has been seeking closer relations with Moscow, in part to buy military hardware,...

THE Russians are alcohol-sodden barbarians, but now and then they vomit up a genius. Prime Minister - and now generalissimo - Vladimir Putin is Mother Russia's latest world-class wonder. Let's be honest: Putin's the most effective leader in the world today. That doesn't mean he's good news for anybody - not even for the Russians, in the long run. His ruthless ambition and gambler's audacity may end terribly. But, for now, give the devil his due: After a long string of successes, from his personal mastery of Russia's government and media to his coldblooded energy brinkmanship, Putin has capped his...

MOSCOW - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has created an inner cabinet of key ministers that will meet weekly, further strengthening his grip over Russia's levers of power. The new forum mimics a format used by Putin as president before he handed over the Kremlin to his close ally Dmitry Medvedev last week. "The full government is a rather big body," Putin's chief spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. "That is why it was decided to set up a managerial staff that can handle certain issues without the need to summon the full cabinet." Medvedev could in theory choose to attend...

Russia showcased its military might and youthful new president to the world Friday, as heavy tanks and missile launchers rumbled across Red Square in a Victory In a nationally broadcast speech two days after his inauguration, President Dmitry Medvedev avoided the bellicose rhetoric of his mentor and predecessor, Vladimir Putin, who drew parallels between United States and Nazi Germany during last year's parade. However, in his speech marking victory over Adolf Hitler's Germany, the 42-year-old Medvedev said the history of World War II demonstrated that military conflicts are rooted in "irresponsible ambitions which prevail over interests of nations and entire...

PRAGUE (Thomson Financial) - Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev attacked US plans to site an anti-missile system in central and eastern Europe, saying that it was aimed at Russia and China and not Iran. 'You believe that (the system) will be used against Iran? No, the whole system is aimed against Russia and China,' Gorbachev said in an interview broadcast by Czech public television today. He dismissed sustained US statements that the anti-missile system is aimed exclusively at countering the threat from 'rogue states' such as Iran. 'The US radar is a serious question and the Czech government has been...

More than 4,000 people are facing eviction to make room for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, according to campaigners, who say that many will receive little or no compensation. “My family has lived on this land for five generations,” said Dmitry Drofichev, a farmer. “We are being offered a fraction of what the land is worth. They’ll have to bulldoze me and the house to make me move.” The authorities have already begun forcibly removing people from areas where Olympic facilities are to be built. Fifteen families of refugees from a war in the...

MOSCOW - Though more than a dozen parties are on the ballot for Russia's parliamentary election Sunday, one would hardly know it. The pro-Kremlin United Russia (UR) party, whose standing has jumped more than 25 percent since President Vladimir Putin announced he would head its candidate list last month, could fairly win up to two-thirds of votes for the 450-seat State Duma, according to most polls. But in what some experts say may be the least democratic election since the USSR collapsed, boycotted by Europe's election-monitoring body, the campaign has been marred by complaints from opposition parties of official interference,...

MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - A Moscow court has given the green light for the seizure of 100 pct of the shares of the Russian oil group Russneft, Russian news agencies reported, citing a Russian interior ministry statement. 'A Moscow court has approved the seizure of 100 pct of the shares of the company. Russneft shares have now been seized,' the statement said. The ministerial press office was unavailable for comment. The seizure follows a judicial procedure launched in January by the interior ministry's committee responsible for tax arrears. Another Moscow court had found in favour of the Russian fiscal authorities...

Russian bombers test UK patience again By Wojciech Moskwa in Oslo July 20, 2007 09:59pm TWO Russian Tu-95 bombers made unusually long sorties over the North Sea yesterday, forcing both Norway and Britain to scramble fighter jets to follow the Russian planes, Norway's armed forces said. The Russian bombers stayed in international air space during their flight, which took them as far south as the region between Norway's Stavanger and Aberdeen in Scotland - centres of the North Sea oil industry. The incident, the latest of several such sorties in past days, occurred during a period of heightened diplomatic tensions...

Former commander in chief of the Soviet Ground Forces Gen. Valentin Varennikov, left, presents a saber to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, during the opening of Venezuela's cultural center in Moscow, Thursday, June 28, 2007. Chavez arrived in Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart as Russian news media speculated about a major weapons deal. As deputy head of the Soviet General Staff from 1979-84, Varennikov was a key planner of the Soviet Union's strategy in Afghanistan Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, 2nd from left, and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov share a joke while opening Venezuela's cultural center in Moscow, Thursday,...

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin of Russia obliquely compared the foreign policy of the United States to the Third Reich in a speech Wednesday commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, in an apparent escalation of anti-American rhetoric within the Russian government. Putin did not specifically name the United States or NATO but used phrasing similar to that which he has used previously to criticize American foreign policy while making an analogy to Nazi Germany. The comments marked the latest in a series of sharply worded Russian criticisms of the foreign policy of the Untied States - on...

The fearsome Russian Bear appears to be coming out of a 16-year hibernation. President Vladimir Putin says he wants to regain Russia's prominence in the world community and his actions are backing up his words. Unencumbered by Marxist dogma, he is attempting to regain Russia's superpower status by the old Soviet method of intimidation. Putin has directed the seizure of assets of the oil giant Yukos and restricted oil supplies to Eastern Europe. But if he can decree such gross confiscation of property, then there is no rule of law and Russia's reforms mean nothing. Moreover, Moscow has drastically raised...

MOSCOW, March 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a letter to participants in the Arab summit in Al-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin press service said on Thursday. “The development of the situation in Iraq causes concern. In order to hold country from sliding to a full-scale civil war and disintegration, a speedy achievement of real national reconciliation and accord is necessary. A way to the realization of this priority task lies through the development of a broad dialogue with the participation of all leading Iraqi political forces and ethic-confessional groups with the clear determination of a timeline...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aides at the Kremlin say they feel surrounded, and they're not going to take it anymore. Russian corporations are being foiled abroad; the Russian state is being unfairly blamed for volatility in global energy markets; and suggestions that the state is eliminating its critics are just preposterous. Why all the bad press? Because of "Russophobia" — an unreasoning Western hostility toward Russia — according to the Kremlin. "I see a campaign here," Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said in a TV interview last week. Amid all the allegations that the Kremlin — in a...

Pentagon prepares for possible war with Russia 08.02.2007 /PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. Defense Secretary thinks that American armed forces must be ready for a large-scale war, the Associated Press reports. “We need a full set of measures to conduct a war, including both special military units necessary for war against terrorists and infantry troops to be able to fight against large regular armies. We do not know what changes can take place in such countries as Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and others,” Robert Gates stated. He made this statement February 7 during hearings in the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services,...

A Nazi state has been reborn within the European Union and its "blasphemous" leaders are bent on glorifying the Third Reich and insulting Russia. There is talk of sanctions and even of internal armed resistance. That, at least, is the view from Moscow, where politicians from President Vladimir Putin on down have condemned the government in the tiny Baltic republic of Estonia. On a snow swept square outside the medieval walls of Tallinn's old town stands the cause of a row that is straining Russia's relations with its former-Soviet neighbours. The Bronze Soldier of Tallinn was erected 60 years ago....

Tensions between Britain and Russia burst into the open today when a leading Cabinet minister voiced criticism of President Putin's "huge attacks" on liberty and democracy.Peter Hain, the outspoken Northern Ireland Secretary, indicated that relations with Moscow had hit a low as he exhorted the Russian leader to return to democratic processes. Outspoken: Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary His comments come as the Government has been treading carefully with Russia amid claims that the Kremlin ordered the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London. The Foreign Office asked Moscow on Friday to hand over any material which might...

Just a headline, as of 10AM.

LONDON - A former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic who was poisoned three weeks ago was moved into intensive care Monday after his condition deteriorated, and his doctor said the toxin has attacked his bone marrow. Prominent Russian exiles claimed Litvinenko was poisoned at the behest of the Kremlin... Thallium causes hair loss and interferes with the cardiovascular and nervous systems, attacking the vital organs. Litvinenko's white cell count is down to nearly zero, said Dr. John Henry, a clinical toxicologist treating him. "It shows his bone marrow has been attacked and that he is susceptible to infection," Litvinenko, who...

It’s not just about rhetoric and weapons. The Russian-Venezuelan alliance is also about oil. President Vladimir Putin and his allies have been supporters of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and his ongoing war of words against the U.S. For instance, during Israel’s re-invasion of southern Lebanon in July and August, several Russian politicos said that Israel was being sponsored by the U.S. and that the Lebanese fighting was being used as a pretext to allow the U.S. to bomb, or invade, Iran. There are also weapons. Russian aircraft manufacturers are supplying fighter jets and helicopters to Venezuela. And Chávez is buying...

Russia's Foreign Ministry says the international community should take a measured response to North Korea's announced nuclear test. In a press statement, the ministry says the North Korean action threatens the peace, safety and stability of the region. It also calls for Pyongyang to return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and agree to new talks. North Korea was a signatory of the treaty, but withdrew from it in 2003. Pyongyang also pulled out of six-party negotiations about its nuclear program last year, talks that included Russia. Along with China, Moscow maintains cordial diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, but Russia has been...

Anna Politkovskaya, the famous journalist and political commentator from Novaya Gazeta was killed in Moscow. This was reported by Novaya Gazeta's chief editor Dmitri Muratov to the radio station Echo of Moscow. The murder occurred around 5 in the evening on Lesnaya Street, where Politkovskaya lived. An unknown man in dark clothing shot her with a pistol. A police source reported to Interfax that a neighbor of the journalist found her body in the elevator. Police also found a discarded Makarov pistol and four empty cartridges. Politkovskaya's home is now cordoned off by the police, reported ITAR-TASS. The police are...

Russian Journalist Politkovskaya Found Dead October 7, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Moscow police say prominent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, known for her critical coverage of the war in Chechnya, was killed today in the capital. Moscow police said Politkovskaya's body was found in an elevator in the apartment building where she was living in the city center. The Interfax news agency quoted police officials as saying a pistol and four bullets were found in the elevator. Politkovskaya was respected for her critical, in-depth coverage of the Russian government's campaign in Chechnya. In 2004, she fell seriously ill with symptoms of food...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin warned Georgia on Wednesday not to provoke or blackmail Russia as Moscow ignored international appeals to drop economic sanctions against its southern neighbor. Discussing a dispute with Georgia over the arrests of four Russian officers, who were later released, Putin told lawmakers: "I would not allow anyone to talk to Russia in the language of provocation and blackmail." But in Georgia, the head of the central bank said his country would block Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) as long as economic sanctions were in force. Russia was hoping to end...

WASHINGTON, October 4 (Itar-Tass) – As for to day Russia “has no Iegal obstacles to deliver nuclear fuel to Iran,” Nikolai Spassky, deputy head of the Russian Rosatom nuclear agency told reporters on Tuesday. “We normally work in the framework of international law which is international agreements signed by Russia and resolutions of the UN Security Council,” Spassky said noting that today there are no such resolutions limiting nuclear fuel deliveries to Iran. However if the United States adopts a law limiting partnership relations with countries cooperating with Iran and if this law affects relations between the two countries in...

If chills did not run down your spine when you heard the tune for the Soviet national anthem, written to glorify the mass-murdering dictator Joseph Stalin, playing for Russia at the Winter Olympics this year in Italy, if you do not shiver every time you hear about Russian people favoring Vladimir Putin, a proud KGB spy, with 70%-plus approval in opinion polls, then perhaps you are ready for this: Russia is re-weaponizing psychiatry as a method of dealing with anti-Kremlin dissent, just as in Soviet times. Two major articles from leading newspapers have documented the early stages of the phenomenon....

MOSCOW, October 1 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Chinese President Hu Jintao a message of congratulations on the occasion of the Chinese national holiday – the 57th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, the presidential press service reported on Sunday. The message of the Russian head of state says, inter alia, as follows: “The real breakthrough in key economic sectors and impressive successes in the social and humanitarian spheres, achieved by Chinese people over these years, evoke sincere respect. The rise in international prestige and influence of the People’s Republic of China and its contribution to strengthening...

MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned any third country against encouraging Georgia to pursue a destructive policy in a telephone conversation Monday with his American counterpart, the Kremlin press service said. The United States has maintained close ties with Georgia since President Mikheil Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated fluent English speaker, came to power on the back of the 2003 "rose revolution." American military trainers have instructed Georgian troops and Washington said on Sunday that it was ready to provide $10 million to Tbilisi to help its bid to join NATO this year. "The Russian side highlighted...

Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced further purchases of Russian weapons, saying his country is to become 'an impregnable fortress.' Venezuela has ordered Antonov airplanes and 14 gunship helicopters, the nationalist-leftist told the air force academy in a speech Tuesday night in the central city of Maracay. 'If you want peace, prepare for war, and that is what we are doing,' he said, adding that he wanted to significantly raise the level of the entire 'anti-imperialist armed forces.' 'We have to safeguard our national sovereignty against the aggressors of always,' said the president who has had an antagonistic relationship...

There are many reasons to expect Moscow's deteriorating ties with the West will continue their downward trend this autumn. But the key one may be growing differences over the breakaway regions of Transdniester, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia and their stated desire to proclaim independence from Moldova and Georgia. The issue pushing the frozen conflicts to the fore are two independence referendums -- one in Transdniester on September 17, the second in South Ossetia on November 12. Russia, which has acted as a long-term booster for the separatist regions, is looking at the plebescites in two ways: a chance to bring...

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union embarked on the most massive military buildups in history. Part of President Reagan's strategy for winning was to entice the Soviets into a competition it could never even hope to win. A communist economy by its very nature is ill-equipped to compete with a free-market, capitalist system whether it's foreign trade or weapons technology. And so, slowly the Soviet economy became a basket case due to the communists desire to exceed America in an enormously expensive arms race. After the Cold War, with the Soviet threat gone and with...

The Kremlin may be the main winner in the Lebanon war. Israel has been attacked with Soviet Kalashnikovs and Katyushas, Russian Fajr-1 and Fajr-3 rockets, Russian AT-5 Spandrel antitank missiles and Kornet antitank rockets. Russia’s outmoded weapons are now all the rage with terrorists everywhere in the world, and the bad guys know exactly where to get them. The weapons cases abandoned by Hezbollah were marked: “Customer: Ministry of Defense of Syria. Supplier: KBP, Tula, Russia.” Today’s international terrorism was conceived at the Lubyanka, the headquarters of the KGB, in the aftermath of the1967 Six-Day War in the Middle East....

Even if one rejects Golitsyn's overall thesis -- viz., that Gorbachev's changes comprised a long-term strategic deception -- one must still acknowledge that Golitsyn was the only analyst whose crystal ball was functioning during the key period of the late 20th century. When the Soviet Empire collapsed in 1989, the CIA was chastised for failing to foresee the change. "For a generation, the Central Intelligence Agency told successive presidents everything they needed to know about the Soviet Union," said Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "except that it was about to fall apart." Sovietologists both inside and outside CIA were indeed baffled,...

The image above shows a corpulent former Russian President Boris Yeltsin bedecked in toga and driving the “young farm girl” and “young factory fellow” from a famous Soviet monument like horses before his chariot. The caption reads: “Corruption: An impediment to progress.” Will Russia fall as Rome did, it seems to ask? Yeltsin was justly criticized during his reign for personal and systemic corruption but in fairness we must ask: Was it any difference before or since in Russia? Is Russia making any economic progress now? As this article will show, the answer is a resounding “nyet!” On May 24,...

PRAGUE, August 8, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The United States has imposed sanctions on two major Russian arms dealers -- state arms exporter Rosoboroneksport and the aviation firm Sukhoi -- for allegedly selling high-tech equipment to Iran. The August 4 move has been widely condemned in Russia as an "unfriendly act" aimed at crippling Russia's arms industry. It comes against the backdrop of strained bilateral relations in recent weeks. Moscow and Washington have failed to reach agreement on Russia's World Trade Organization bid and continue to disagree on resolving the Middle East conflict and on dealing with Iran's nuclear program. And...

The Russians have allegedly sold weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and other terrorist-supporting nations. After the US-led invasion of Iraq, Russian-made weapons were found. As a result, the US government placed sanctions against American business dealings with two Russian companies selling arms and weapons systems to Iran. Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the United States on Friday for imposing such sanctions on two Russian corporations. Putin called the sanctions an “illegitimate attempt to make foreign companies work by internal American rules,” after the US banned all American companies from dealing with two Russian firms that sold hardware...

Since the first Gulf War, peace activists have cried in the streets, “No war for oil, no war for oil!” until they were blue in the face. This is of course meant to insinuate that the US government under a Republican administration will sweep into an Arab nation and “steal that oil.” Yes, in the minds of many liberals throughout the world, the American military is commanded by Exxon/Mobile to solely seek out the oil fields of peaceful sovereign nations and steal their precious crude. In this rationale there’s never any other reason save for greed and imperialism. What I...

General Yury Baluyevsky-Russia's #2 man in Defense-is unhappy over the American's missile defense system. What good is it to have 927 ICBMs if they can be destroyed in flight ? Details at: http://insidestraight.typepad.com/the_inside_straight/2006/08/us_and_russia_h.html

World briefing Irresistible rise of the dictators' club Simon Tisdall Tuesday June 6, 2006 Guardian Tony Blair's promotion of shared global values and inclusive institutions in his Georgetown speech last month took little account of the rise and rise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Few may yet have heard of it. But out of the east comes a radically different paradigm for 21st-century international organisation, short on idealism and long on hard-headed self-interest. The "universal" principles of "liberty, democracy and justice" lauded by Mr Blair are hardly its driving force. Founded by China, the five-year-old SCO groups together like-minded authoritarian...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that Russia had helped his country break a U.S.-imposed "blockade" by agreeing to sell Caracas fighter planes and helicopters worth billions of dollars. Neither Chavez nor Russian leader Vladimir Putin gave details about any new deals signed Thursday, but Russia's defense minister said last week that Moscow had agreed to sell the oil-rich South American nation about 30 Su-30 fighter jets and some 30 military helicopters. Putin said Thursday that Moscow and Caracas would prove "reliable partners" and - in comments clearly aimed at Washington - said their cooperation should not be viewed as...

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday he had forged a strategic alliance to stand up to U.S. imperialism with fellow maverick Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. "Our countries must keep their hands at the ready on the sword," Chavez, in ex-Soviet Belarus as part of a world tour, said on a visit to a military academy. "After a day of intensive work, we have created a strategic alliance between our countries," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "It is absolutely vital to protect our homeland, to guard against internal and external threats." "The jaws of imperialism and hegemonism have both...

HUGO CHÁVEZ, the ardently anti-American President of Venezuela, arrives in Russia today to sign a billion-dollar arms deal that has infuriated and alarmed the US. The self-styled leftist revolutionary will sign an agreement with President Putin to buy 30 Sukhoi Su30 fighter jets and 30 military helicopters worth $1 billion (£540 million). The two leaders will also discuss plans to build two Kalashnikov factories in Venezuela — to add to the 100,000 Kalashnikov AK103 assault rifles that Venezuela has bought from Russia in the past year. The arms deals — and the visit by Señor Chávez — are the latest...

Oracle Commentaries 7/22/2006 Urgent Intelligence Update UNCOVERED: RUSSIAN-SYRIAN-IRANIAN AXIS For students of Bible prophecy, even the title of this communiqué should set off alarm sirens. I just received some electrifying intelligence data. First, from the Debka-Net-Weekly’s briefing. And second, from some personal intelligence sources (I carefully guard) that confirm Debka’s report. Russia, Iran and Syria have entered a defense pact that is in the process of altered the balance of power in the entire Middle East. Russia’s part in the pact has been kept relatively secret for a long time. But the facts reveal a long steady Russian commitment...

Russia signs $1bln aircraft contract with Venezuela-Ivanov 18:01 | 21/ 07/ 2006 MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has signed a contract on supplies of military planes and helicopters to Venezuela worth over $1 billion, the defense minister said Friday. Sergei Ivanov said 30 Su-30 Flanker air-superiority fighters and 30 helicopters would be supplied to Venezuela. The Russian Su-30 Flankers will replace a Venezuelan contingent of U.S. F-16 multi-role fighters after Washington imposed an embargo on arms sales to the country May 15, which it says poses a threat to regional stability. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has moved...

MOSCOW, July 20 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday that the Israeli offensive on Lebanon had gone "far beyond" the anti-terrorist operation Israel says it is conducting against the Hizbollah militia. "The unprecedented scale of victims and destruction bear witness to the fact that the actions that were announced to (free captured Israeli servicemen) have gone far beyond the bounds of an anti-terrorist operation," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Israeli warplanes and artillery have been pounding Lebanon for more than a week. Israel says it is retaliating for the capture of two of its soldiers in a...

MOSCOW -- The West's decision to fund Islamist guerrillas against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan has backfired two decades later, Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday, setting an uncompromising tone as he prepared to welcome leaders for Group of Eight talks. This weekend's summit in St. Petersburg has focused attention on Russia, with some Western politicians asking why Mr. Putin deserves the honour of hosting the world's major democratic leaders when he is neither democratic nor presiding over a leading economy. Mr. Putin fired back in an interview with CTV News yesterday. It was his first one-on-one interview with a...

06:42 GMT, Jul 03, 2006 Latest Headlines... Two Russian Su-30 fighter jets arrive in Venezuela MOSCOW/CARACAS. July 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Two Russian Su-30 fighter jets have landed in Caracas to join a military parade to mark the anniversary of Venezuela's independence from Spain on July 5, an official with the Russian defense and industrial complex told Interfax- AVN. "It has yet to be decided whether the planes will remain in that country until a contract is signed for the sale of 24 Su-30 fighter jets to Venezuela, or they will return home after the celebrations," the official said. sd md

Ultranationalism among Russian youth and, to a lesser degree, in party politics as well as nascent official activity against xenophobia are receiving increasing attention by Russian and Western observers. Alarmed by the growing number of victims among foreign students, visitors from abroad and immigrants from Asia, Africa and the Americas, the Putin administration has started to take action against escalating skinhead violence. The Kremlin-directed Russian mass media reports now on a daily basis about attacks on foreigners and their—often, still hesitant—persecution by the procuracy. There is also frequent information on various central and local campaigns (concerts, demonstrations, meetings, etc.) to...

Moscow, June 14: The situation in Afghanistan, regional developments and bilateral ties will come up for discussion during talks Russian President Vladimir Putin will have with his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Shanghai on Thursday. Putin, who today left for Shanghai to attend the 10th jubilee session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will have a series of bilateral meetings tomorrow on the sidelines of the SCO Summit, presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko said. Besides holding talks with Musharraf, the Russian President will have separate meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Iranian President Mahmoud...

IRAN'S controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is flying to Shanghai tomorrow to take part in a summit that will seal China's plans to lead an Asian rival to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation - whose meeting has forced the shutdown of much of the city this week - is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and is preparing to expand its membership well beyond the present China, Russia and four strategic central Asian states: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui refused at a briefing yesterday to disclose the countries that wished to become observers...