// Dec. 23, 2006 - 06:07 GMT

* Russia's President Vladimir Putin, in Kiev on a one-day working visit, said:

// Dec. 23, 2006 - 08:38 GMT

MOSCOW, December 23 (RIA Novosti) – Azerbaijan's president said Saturday the country may stop importing natural gas from Russia.

// Dec. 23, 2006 - 10:15 GMT

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Vavra) – A Moscow Turkmen man told me last summer that Turkmenbashi had a fatal disease, and would not live until the end of 2006. His prediction came true, which compelled me to trust his information.

// Dec. 23, 2006 - 10:55 GMT

Russia's President Vladimir Putin assured Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko that Moscow wants good relations, in a meeting that both leaders presented as a break from the strained relationship of the past.

// Dec. 23, 2006 - 10:59 GMT

Security was tighter then usual in Turkmenistan's capital on Saturday as the reclusive Central Asian nation prepared to bury its autocratic leader Saparmurat Niyazov.

// Dec. 23, 2006 - 11:00 GMT

The U.N. Security Council scheduled a vote Saturday on a resolution that would impose sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program, culminating two months of tough negotiations aimed at getting Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment.

// Dec. 23, 2006 - 11:06 GMT

A Russian parliamentary commission investigating the 2004 Beslan school seizure in which 334 people were killed blamed local law-enforcement for not following orders from Moscow but stopped short of harsh criticism.

// Dec. 23, 2006 - 11:15 GMT

The British embassy's cultural section has decided to stop offering English classes in Moscow after authorities there demanded that it obtain a teaching license, a spokeswoman for the embassy section said on Friday.

// Dec. 23, 2006 - 11:24 GMT

(Recasts, adds details)

// Dec. 23, 2006 - 11:32 GMT