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The bad news: 1. Russian NTV channel reported the detention of 25 Ukrainians on the territory of the Russian Federation. According to NTV, they were planning terrorist attacks in Rostov, Volgograd, Tver, Orlov, Belgorod oblasts [regions] and the Republics of Kalmykia and Tatarstan. Among the detained activists, it was stated there were activists of “Right Sector” [ultra-nationalist group], who “confirmed the receipt of instructions from representatives of the SBU [Security Services of Ukraine].” We can laugh out of habit at this and forget about it – you never know what lies PutinTV will come up with next. But in reality,...

The two terrorist attacks in Volgograd, Russia—on consecutive days—are a true tragedy. The twin bombings have killed dozens and have wounded many more. Both American values and American interests compel the United States to condemn the attacks and express support for Russia’s people and government in dealing with extremist terrorism. While the appropriate immediate U.S. response is clear, however, Russia’s response to terrorism has been uncertain and a mixed success. The recent attacks in Volgograd followed another bombing in the city in October and occurred in the context of regular domestic terrorism throughout Russia, including in its capital Moscow. This...

HE is known as Russia's Osama bin Laden; Public Enemy No 1 for the Kremlin. Even the US has put a $5 million bounty on his head. Doku Umarov, 49, the Chechen warlord with the blackest of reputations, is assumed to be the mastermind behind a bombing campaign intended to disrupt Vladimir Putin's cherished dream of a successful Winter Olympics in Sochi. Certainly, he has set out his aims clearly enough. The Olympics, he said, were being held on "the bones of many, many dead Muslims buried on our land by the Black Sea".

SNIPPET: "Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics security will be beefed up following Boston Marathon explosions, officials say Russian sports officials said they will beef up security at forthcoming sports events and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the wake of deadly explosions at Boston's marathon that killed three people, and injured over 140 others." "Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics security will be beefed up following Boston Marathon explosions, officials say" SNIPPET: "The World Athletics Championship takes place in Moscow on Aug 10-18, and the event is seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2014 Winter Games in the Black Sea resort...

The Obama administration offered to work on Sochi Olympics security issues with Russia after a pair of bombings in Volgograd killed at least 31 people. President Vladimir Putin gave instructions to the National Anti-Terrorism Committee “to step up security measures across all of Russia and specifically in Volgograd region,” the Kremlin said Monday. “The president will receive daily reports from the NAC on the measures being taken along with regular situation reports.” Putin had not emerged to make a personal statement on the bombings, which occurred at a train station and on a bus. The train station bomber was reportedly...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has carefully cultivated a tough-guy image, but the reality, at least in terms of his response to Jihad has been something different. Many in the US assume that Putin will act forcefully to punish those who were behind the two Islamikaze bombings in Volgograd this week, but history tells us that he won’t. Many in the West assume simple-mindedly that the Jihadist assault on Russia is tied to separatist “rebels” in Chechnya. But Jihad goes way beyond localized disputes and the Jihadists don’t just have their sights set on Chechnya; they see the site of the...

The suicide bomber who set off a 10kg TNT charge today in the southern Russian city of Volgograd had officially been identified as Oksana Aslanova, a 26-year-old Tabasaran national from Turkmenistan, the Voice of Russia's source reports. An explosion rocked the railway station in Volgograd at 12:45 Moscow Time on Sunday, December 29th . According to the latest reports, 14 people were killed and dozens injured. One of the current version of events, the terrorist attack was carried out by Oksana Aslanova from Daghestan but that information needs to be confirmed,” the source said. The woman was married to a...

At least 10 people have been killed and 10 others injured in an explosion on a trolleybus in the Russian city of Volgograd, Russian media report. The blast comes a day after 17 people died in a suicide bomb attack at the central station in the city. Security has been tightened at railway stations and airports across Russia. Moscow is concerned militant groups could be ramping up violence in the run-up to the 2014 winter Olympic Games in the city of Sochi. The Olympic venue is close to Russia's volatile north Caucasus region. Volgograd lies about 900km (560 miles) south...

A suspected "Black Widow" female suicide bomber attacked a bus in the southern Russia city of Volgograd today, not far from Sochi, the site of the February 2014 Winter Olympics. The attack is the first such incident in the region in over a year. According to Russia's Federal Investigative Committee, a 30-year-old Dagestani woman named Naida Asiyalova boarded the bus at a stop, then detonated shortly afterward in an explosion that killed at least six people and wounded 32 others. There are thought to have been about 40 people on the bus. Identity documents found near the blast site indicated...

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...

Sep 11 2005 2:45PM Massive anti-terror demonstration held in Volgograd VOLGOGRAD. Sept 11 (Interfax) - About 50,000 Volgograd residents have held an anti-terror demonstration, a spokesman for the city authorities told Interfax. The demonstrators linked hands, forming a forty-kilometer long human chain. The phrase "We Choose Peace!" was stitched onto their jackets in large letters, the spokesman said. The demonstration was timed to commemorate the terrorist attack in New York on September 11, 2001 and protest global terrorism, he said. The demonstration was organized by the city's culture department, education and youth affairs committees, the city authorities' information department and...

Ghosts of Stalingrad still haunt site of epic World War II battle Thu May 5,2005 Volgograd may have been rebuilt from scratch after 1945, but the city once called Stalingrad is still haunted by the ghosts of World War II's watershed battle which saw Nazi Germany's first crushing defeat. "The whole city is a memorial," said Mikhail Godun, a young fireman who spends much of his free time digging up the remains of those who fell during the brutal, 200-day clash. What was arguably the mother of all World War II battles -- and Soviet victories -- claimed the lives...

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered that the name of Volgograd be removed from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and replaced with the city's previous name, Stalingrad. The measure echoes other symbolic decisions Putin has made in recent years, including resurrecting the music of the old Soviet national anthem and reinstating the Soviet-era red star as the Russian military's emblem. The move is aimed at "commemorating the fundamental turning point" of World War II, Putin said in the order. The battle that ended on Feb. 2, 1943, with German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus' surrender, killed about 1...