Russian News From Russia…

MOSCOW (AP) — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared Tuesday he doesn’t fear assassination attempts, a day after state television reported that security forces had foiled a plot to kill him. Russia’s Channel One reported Monday that plotters linked to a Chechen rebel warlord were planning to assassinate Putin with powerful explosives after Sunday’s presidential election. [...]

“While we work round the clock in our factories and make products that earn the state money, they roam the streets bawling for their rights,” the workers declared. For the Kremlin, it was a public relations coup that allowed Putin to project the sense that the Russian heartland still loved him. The reality was a [...]

MOSCOW—Officials say at least six people have been killed and 12 were injured after a section of a nine-story apartment building in southern Russia collapsed following a natural gas explosion. Anzhelika Barinova of Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry says another five people are missing after Monday’s explosion in Astrakhan, 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) southeast of Moscow. [...]

MOSCOW | Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:25am EST MOSCOW Feb 28 (Reuters) – Russian state-controlled companies Rosneft and Transneft have settled a dispute with China over the price for Russian crude oil supplies via pipeline, business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday. The agreement gives China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) a discount of $1.5 per barrel, [...]

Russia, the world’s biggest oil producer, will raise its export duty on most crude shipments by 4.4 percent from March 1 following an increase in the price of the country’s Urals blend. The standard duty will climb to $411.20 a metric ton, or $56.10 a barrel, from $393.70 a ton in February, according to a [...]

Russia has partially resumed flights of Su-24 Fencer tactical bombers after one of them crashed in Russia’s Urals, Defense Ministry spokesman Col Vladimir Drik said on Tuesday. “After tests, unit commanders… will receive permission to resume flights of this type of aircraft,” he said. All Su-24s were grounded after one of them crashed in the [...]

The suspects in an alleged plot to assassinate Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who were detained in Ukraine, will not be extradited to Russia until they serve prison time for crimes committed in Ukraine, the Kommersant daily reported on Tuesday. Russian state television said on Monday that Ukrainian security services had arrested the two suspects [...]

Two crew members ejected safely after their Su-30 fighter jet crashed 130 km northeast of Komsomolsk-on-Amur during a test flight on Tuesday, according to sources in the regional administration. “Both crew members ejected safely but one was hurt on landing,” a regional administration source said. The aircraft belonged to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur factory where Su-30s are [...]

At least six people have been killed and 14 are missing in the Southern Russian city of Astrakhan after a household gas blast destroyed the third floor of a nine-storey residential building, three other sections subsequently collapsed on Monday, the regional Emergencies Ministry said on Tuesday. “Six bodies have been found, two of them were [...]

In their toughest fight for survival, two pairs of Russian Amur Tigers will have to change citizenship. The animals will soon be sent to Iran to help local zoologists repopulate the country with the world’s biggest cats. ­Iran’s Caspian tiger population has been all but wiped out by hunters, so local preservation specialists chose the [...]

Three out of the five contenders in the Russian presidential race – Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Gennady Zyuganov and Sergey Mironov – have met for a new type of debate to be grilled by journalists, instead of fighting with each other. All three once again voiced their readiness to hold an early State Duma vote if they [...]

The world’s top heavyweight, Wladimir Klitschko, believes he must be careful in the opening rounds of his upcoming bout against Jean-Marc Mormeck. ­Wladimir will be putting his IBF, WBA and WBO belts on the line against the Frenchman in Germany on Saturday night. The nearly two-meter-tall Ukrainian has a height, reach and power advantage over [...]

Russia’s Marussia team won’t be able to take part in the final round of tests prior to the start of the Formula 1 season after failing an official crash-test. ­“We are disappointed to confirm that the planned first test of its 2012 race car – the MR01 – has been delayed as a consequence of [...]