Adds Church's comments in last 4 paras) MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's top court ruled on Wednesday "to exonerate" the country's last tsar and his family, executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918, as victims of political repression. The

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's government will provide up to 175 billion rubles ($6.8 billion) in extra funds in 2009 to support the domestic financial market against the backdrop of the global slump, the prime minister said on

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Several countries have shown an interest in purchasing Russia's advanced Iskander-E short-range ballistic missile systems, state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Wednesday. The Iskander-E (SS-26 Stone) is a tactical surface-to-surface missile complex designed to

ORENBURG, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Five girls in their final year at a high school in the Orenburg Region of Russia's Urals were killed on Wednesday morning when a supporting wall of their school collapsed, bringing a three-story section

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian government plans to spend an additional 80 billion rubles ($3.1 bln) on arms procurement and the deployment of troops in 2009, the prime minister said on Wednesday. According to the draft federal

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's three main state-controlled lenders - Sberbank, VTB and Gazprombank - have agreed to maintain credit on the interbank market at a minimum of 60 billion rubles ($2.4 billion), the Central Bank said on

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russian warships, currently on a long-range sortie that will bring them to the Caribbean in November, will enter the Mediterranean Sea on October 5 and make several port calls in the region, the Navy

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia launched a converted intercontinental ballistic missile from a rocket launch site the south Urals to put a Thai earth observation satellite into orbit on Wednesday, the Strategic Missile Forces said. "The launch of

ST. PETERSBURG, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - The number of people hospitalized with suspected aseptic meningitis has risen to 124 in north Russia's Arkhangelsk Region, the local emergency service said on Wednesday. A total of 23 new cases have been

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Two 18-year-old ringleaders of a Moscow far-right gang charged with 20 murders pleaded guilty on Wednesday to race-hate killings. The gang killed their non-white victims and assaulted 12 others in a series of attacks

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Navy said Wednesday that no force would be used against pirates who seized a Ukrainian ship off the Somali coast last week, a Navy spokesman said. "The issues of releasing the ship

STRELNA (near St. Petersburg), October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will fulfill its commitments under a peace plan for the Georgian conflict developed by the Russian and French presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy, in time, Medvedev said Wednesday. The

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - NATO bases in Ukraine and Georgia, if deployed, would threaten Russia's strategic military and economic infrastructure, the Russian Security Council secretary said. In an interview published in the Izvestia newspaper Wednesday, Nikolai Patrushev described

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - The secretary of the Russian Security Council said the Arctic is strategically important to Russia and the country must protect its interests in the region. In an interview published on the Izvestia newspaper web

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russian gay activists are set to contest in the European Court of Human Rights the decision by authorities to ban a gay pride march in Moscow during the May holidays, the Gay Russia Web