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Russia has threatened to ban all imports of animal products from the European Union, an EU spokesman said Wednesday — just two days before a summit where the two sides appear set for fractious talks over their future cooperation.Russia is citing concerns over food hygiene standards in Romania and Bulgaria, which are due to join the EU on Jan. 1, as the reason to impose the EU-wide ban, a spokesman for the European Commission said.
Russia informed the commission "of their intention to ban EU animal product exports" starting Jan. 1 in a letter two weeks ago, spokesman Philip Tod said in Brussels.
The ban would affect all meat, fish and dairy products, which account for $2.2 billion in EU exports to Russia annually.
The Helsinki summit has already been clouded by Poland's refusal to agree to starting talks on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia. |
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SHADY LADY
Alexander Demianchuk
A model displays a creation by designer Anna Barsukova during the international Admiralty Needle fashion competition for young designers currently being held in St. Petersburg. |
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MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin promised a massive offensive against corruption Tuesday, promising that the state would start scrutinizing the incomes and property of police officers, prosecutors and judges, and their families as well.Putin also said at a meeting of 700 senior law enforcement officials that bureaucrats should not moonlight, police should conserve their energy for major crimes and all bills sent to the State Duma should be "corruption proof.
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MOSCOW — The trial of former Nuclear Power Minister Yevgeny Adamov began Tuesday after two postponements. Adamov faces charges of organized fraud and abuse of power stemming from his time in office from 1998 to 2001.The judge in the closed hearing at the Zamoskvoretsky District Court was to decide whether to admit evidence against Adamov submitted by the team of prosecutors, and on that basis whether to proceed with the trial or dismiss the charges. |
All photos from issue.
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MOSCOW — A man arrested on espionage charges is an elite Russian spy who had been collecting intelligence on Canada for more than a decade, Canadian authorities said in court documents.The man, identified as Paul William Hampel, was taken into custody by the Canada Border Services Agency on Nov. |
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LONDON — Here in Moscow-on-the-Thames, it was a calling card from home.A former KGB agent who has settled in London to raise his family gets a warning that his name is on a Mafia hit list, then falls ill from a mysterious poisoning. |
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MOSCOW — Police and soldiers have kidnapped nearly 2,000 people in Chechnya since 2002, according to a human rights report released Wednesday.Of 1,947 people kidnapped, 684 people have been freed and 189 have been found dead. The others have disappeared without trace and are presumed dead, the report compiled by Memorial and the International Federation of Human Rights said. |
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HELSINKI — The head of Royal Dutch Shell in Russia on Thursday demanded an end to months of sniping and threats by Kremlin-backed officials. "We would like to hear clear signals that international oil companies continue to be welcome in Russia," Chris Finlayson told a business conference in Helsinki, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Union leaders will meet on Friday. |
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MOSCOW — Russia's largest grocery retailer X5, which is listed in London, plans a large share issue on the local market next year, its head Lev Khasis said on Thursday. |
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MOSCOW — Russia's Alfa Group has increased its voting stake in the country's No. 2 cellphone firm Vimpelcom to 35.8 percent from 32.9 percent, a document filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission showed on Thursday.Alfa is in a bitter conflict with Norway's Telenor over Vimpelcom's expansion in Ukraine, where Telenor controls market leader, Kiyvstar. |
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Business Center PlansnST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Peterburgskaya Nedvizhimist has announced plans to construct an A-class business center in Petrogradsky district, Interfax reported Tuesday. |
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MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin took his government to task Wednesday for its poor handling of power shortfalls. But he stopped short of acting on the advice of top officials to jack up the price of natural gas to avert a mounting energy crisis."If everything had been done as needed, there would be no breakdowns, and people would not suffer," Putin said at a long-anticipated strategy meeting in the Kremlin. |
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MOSCOW — As millions of Russians brace for winter power shortages, Russian electricity reforms moved up a gear on Wednesday with word of a first multi-billion tender to build new hydroelectric power stations. |
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MOSCOW — Gazprom has gained control of a big gas field on the Yamal peninsula by buying it from its former owner after reaching an out-of-court settlement, newspapers reported Wednesday.Vedomosti and Kommersant said the gas monopoly had gained control over the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye field, citing unidentified Gazprom sources and the field's former owner. |
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Power StakesnMOSCOW (Bloomberg) — E.ON AG is in talks with Russian utility Unified Energy System to buy stakes in Russian power plants, Handelsblatt said, citing an interview with UES Chief Executive Officer Anatoly Chubais. |
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On the evening of Feb. 18, 1954, in Frankfurt, a man called on Georgy Okolovich, a leader of an anti-Soviet emigre union. The business at hand was murder. But things took a different turn when Okolovich opened the door. "I'm a captain in the Ministry of State Security and I have been sent from Moscow to organize your assassination," the visitor told him straight out. |
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When South Ossetians overwhelmingly backed a referendum on independence earlier this month, Russian television stations provided extensive coverage of the celebrations in the capital, Tskhinvali. |
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 A study of civil-military relations reveals much about the state of Russia today.Dale Herspring is a professor of political science at Kansas State University and one of America's most highly regarded scholars of the Russian military. Yet, his decision to examine the impact of Russian presidential leadership on its military was provoked, not by any event in the Soviet Union or Russia during the past 20 years, but by his study of civil-military relations in the United States. |
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A long-awaited film version of 'And Quiet Flows the Don' hasn't impressed the critics.Launched with great fanfare earlier this month, Sergei Bondarchuk's television version of Mikhail Sholokhov's "And Quiet Flows the Don" has been slammed by critics as a "comic book" and a klyukva, or cranberry, a slang term for kitsch aimed at the overseas market. |
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Novus closed this week, its founder and manager Denis Cherevichny, also known as DJ 108, has revealed.The trendy indie bar occupied the second floor of what was officially, as it turned out, a student canteen, and was kicked out by the scared owners when state health and safety inspectors visited to check the place. |
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Mikhail Shemyakin turns to the world of insects in his new Mariinsky ballet.Imaginative designs unfortunately clashed with choreographic banality at the premiere of a triple bill of ballets at the Mariinsky Theater last week. |
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For almost 20 years, NOM has been an institution in the St. Petersburg alternative-culture scene. Loved by some and hated by others, the collective of musicians, authors, painters and filmmakers is known for scrutinizing the dark corners of the Russian soul, spoofing Soviet and post-Soviet lifestyles and skewering irrational ideologies like anti-Semitism and homophobia through its output of songs, books and films. |
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RUDA SLASKA, Poland — The bodies of all 17 men who had been trapped underground after a mine explosion in southern Poland have been found, bringing the final death toll to 23, the mining company said Thursday.The men were killed by Tuesday's explosion more than a kilometer below the surface at the Halemba mine in southern Poland. |
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BRISBANE — Ricky Ponting completed his 32nd test hundred as Australia dominated the opening day of the first Ashes test against England at the Gabba on Thursday.The Australian skipper batted magnificently to reach the close unbeaten on 137 with Mike Hussey on 63 and the world champions in cruise control at 346 for three. |
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MULTAN — Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf missed a double century by nine runs as the second test against West Indies ended in a high-scoring draw on Thursday's final day. |
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LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods fired a bogey-free six-under 66 to surge to a two-shot victory over Jim Furyk at the $1 million PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Poipu Beach, Hawaii on Wednesday.It was the 10th win of the season for Woods, who has made the event his own personal property, having lifted the title seven times in eight starts. |
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LONDON — Inter Milan and Chelsea took their places in the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday while Barcelona avoided the ignominy of becoming the first reigning European champions to be eliminated in the group phase. |
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TORONTO — Chris Bosh poured in 25 points and pulled down 14 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors shocked LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 95-87 to snap a six-game losing streak on Wednesday.Back at the Air Canada Centre after a 0-5 road trip, the Raptors appeared energized by the home crowd, squandering a first-quarter lead then rallying in the fourth to ease past the Eastern Conference leading Cavaliers. |
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NEW YORK — Daniel Briere scored twice to lift the Buffalo Sabres to the top of the NHL overall standings with a 7-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. |
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