During a state awards ceremony held in the Kremlin, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the audience that his first job was as a street cleaner.

// Jul. 29, 2011 - 06:56 GMT

Lotus Renault GP team member and Russiaâ™s first Formula One driver Vitaly Petrov tested the racing version of the LADA Granta Sport during the celebration of AvtoVazâ™s 45th anniversary in Togliatti on Tuesday, July 26. He circled the companyâ™s test track several times and then shared his impressions with reporters. </p>

// Jul. 28, 2011 - 06:33 GMT

Scorching heat will remain in Moscow over the next days, with temperatures of 32–34 degrees Celsius, an expert from Russiaâ™s weather predicting center Fobos said. However, on Sunday the high temperatures will ease. </p>

// Jul. 24, 2011 - 07:37 GMT

Combat engineer units defuse mines, build bridges and create heavy-duty military equipment crossings during an exercise in Russiaâ™s Volgograd Region. </p>

// Jul. 23, 2011 - 07:08 GMT

Diving instructors and commanders of engineer reconnaissance troops of all branches of the armed forces demonstrated their qualification by using a range of different types of diving equipment in a training center in the city of Volzhsky. Officers worked under water in both a modern diving suit, and a suit of a 1950s design.

// Jul. 22, 2011 - 08:35 GMT

An annual festival of traditional Caribbean cultures, known locally as the Fiesta del Fuego, has taken place in Cuba. This yearâ™s highlights included the Ode to Yemaya, a ritual of the Yoruba religion dedicated to the goddess of the sea, and the Fire Parade, which culminates in the Devil Burning ceremony. </p>

// Jul. 19, 2011 - 08:38 GMT

A RIA Novosti reporter travelled 200 meters above ground to get a story on the 10th Golden Ring ballooning festival in Pereslavl-Zalessky on July 14. All twenty crews on eleven balloons reached that altitude.

// Jul. 18, 2011 - 08:40 GMT

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has laid flowers at an impromptu memorial in the port of Kazan to the victims of the Bulgaria shipwreck. He then chaired a meeting of the ad hoc government commission investigating the shipwreck. In his remarks, the prime minister commented that Russians have come to see disasters as a normal part of life, but that the July 10 shipwreck had nonetheless come as a shock to the entire nation.

// Jul. 15, 2011 - 07:26 GMT

A regional airliner crashed in a northeastern city in Brazil on Wednesday, killing all 16 people on board, the nation's Air Force said.

// Jul. 14, 2011 - 08:32 GMT

The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin, commonly known as the Cathedral of Basil the Blessed, or St. Basilâ™s Cathedral, marks its 450th anniversary on July 12, 2011. Construction of the Cathedral was completed on July 12, 1561. </p>

// Jul. 14, 2011 - 07:42 GMT