Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly wanted to have the last word about the year 2004. First he shifted his "traditional" lengthy press conference to December 23, and then he confidently insisted that the country is on the right course whatever question a bothersome journalist would... MORE

Speaking at his quarterly press conference, David Woodward, President of BP-Azerbaijan, surprised attendees with the announcement that BTC Co. shareholders, together with the British-Russian oil company TNK-BP, were considering the possibility of transporting Russian oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (Zerkalo, December 22). The independent daily... MORE

Russo-Chinese relations in 2004 were not all sweetness and light. Moscow's destruction of Yukos and preference for a Japanese rather than a Chinese pipeline in Siberia put severe pressure on Chinese oil supplies, because Yukos was China's main Russian oil supplier and Chinese demand for... MORE

On December 29, President Vladimir Putin conferred Russia's highest award, the Hero of the Russian Federation, on Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow Chechen government's first deputy prime minister and son of the late Chechen president. According to the corresponding presidential decree, the younger Kadyrov was awarded... MORE

President Putin on December 27 handed out awards to a variety of officials, artists and other VIPs, RIA Novosti reported. Among the recipients were Chechen President Alu Alkhanov, who received an Order of Bravery, and Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov, who received a 4th degree For... MORE

Hundreds of people reportedly connected to the pro-Putin youth group Marching Together demonstrated near the home of actress Vanessa Redgrave in west London in December to protest her links to Chechen separatist emissary Akhmed Zakaev, Britain's Sunday Times reported on January 2. They also held... MORE

On December 23, two Russian military intelligence agents, who had been found guilty by a court in Qatar of the murder of former Chechen president and separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, returned to Russia. Their return was a result of a special agreement between the governments... MORE

Using its veto power in the OSCE, Russia has carried out its threat to terminate the mandate of the organization's Georgia Border Monitoring Operation (BMO) as of December 31. This unarmed international mission, patrolling the Georgia-Russia border on Georgian territory, has played a key role... MORE

Russia's top brass have decided that the best way to halt the decline of Russian airpower capabilities is to upgrade equipment and transform some air elements into effective anti-terrorist strike forces. Therefore in 2005 the Russian air force will continue to rely heavily upon extending... MORE

The effective nationalization of Yuganskneftegaz, formerly the embattled Yukos oil company's main production unit, was completed on New Year's Eve, when the state oil company Rosneft announced that it had paid for a 76.79% stake in Yuganskneftegaz and become its legal owner. A Yukos source... MORE