* A court building was blown up in the city of Novosibirsk in Russia's West Siberia, with no victims reported

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 04:27 GMT

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov) – After an absence of many centuries, Iran is going back to Central Asia, or at least trying to regain a foothold in the region, which is politically, economically and strategically important for it and with which it has common cultural and historical roots.

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 05:01 GMT

MOSCOW. (Marianna Belenkaya, RIA Novosti political commentator) –

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 05:07 GMT

MOSCOW. (Lev Zeleny, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), and Director of the RAS Institute of Space Research, for RIA Novosti)

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 05:10 GMT

Georgia has accused Russian military commanders of involvement in an attack by rebels in its breakaway South Ossetia region on a helicopter carrying the defence minister.

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 05:34 GMT

An explosive detonated at a guards' room in a prison center in Khankala – Russia's main military base in Chechnya. One officer was killed and 18 were wounded by the blast.

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 05:34 GMT

A senior Russian official from the Sakhalin regional government said on Saturday, Sept. 2, that Russia is hoping for China to join in oil and gas exploration off the coast of the Sakhalin Island in the Far East. The information was reported by the Chinese <i>Xinhua</i> agency, which did not provide the official's name.

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 05:39 GMT

Russian crude oil production edged up 0.9 percent in August to register a new all-time high of 9.759 million barrels per day. The increase was largely a result of the Exxon-led Sakhalin-1 field coming on stream.

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 05:39 GMT

On Monday, Sept. 4, Russia's President Vladimir Putin will hold three-way talks with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov and offer Greece to boost its regional role by becoming a transit hub for Russian oil and gas exports to Western markets.

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 05:39 GMT

A U.S.-based advocacy group said Sunday that Russia violated the rights of two former inmates at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, threatening and physically abusing the men to force them to confess to blowing up a natural gas pipeline and ignoring possibly exonerating evidence.

// Sep. 04, 2006 - 05:54 GMT