Kavkaz

A number of people have been killed in a car explosion near a Russian base in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia. Initial information about the blast in the regional capital of Tskhinvali came from a South Ossetian news agency.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran hopes that Azerbaijan and Armenia will express their opinion soon about Iran’s proposals on mediation in the resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a senior Iranian diplomat said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Kamov, one of Russia’s largest helicopter producers, is hoping to sign an agreement by the end of the year to export Ka-226T utility helicopters to Iran, the company’s director said on Friday.

Russia has spared Ukraine from a steep price rise in gas for the time being despite a row over arms sales to Georgia.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Moscow said that the involvement of Georgia by the United States into a military operation against Iran will pose an additional threat to Russia’s national security.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Representatives of Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and representatives of international companies convened in the port of Astrakhan, Russia on Thursday to attend the first Intergovernmental Economic Conference of the Caspian littoral states.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in St Petersburg in Russia, helping to mend ties between the two countries.

NABAKHTEVI, Georgia (Reuters) – EU monitors entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia for the first time Wednesday in what they said was a smooth start to their peacekeeping operation.

ODZISI, Georgia (Reuters) – Riding in a rickety truck laden with furniture, Zina Zakarashvili gave European Union ceasefire monitors an early glimpse on Wednesday of the human face of the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is considering blasting a railway line through the Caucasus mountains to link up with South Ossetia, the breakaway region of Georgia over which Moscow and Tbilisi fought a war in August.