Kavkaz

MOSCOW – The near 100 percent support for the Kremlin’s United Russia party in parliamentary elections last year in the North Caucasus were legitimate and vindicated Kremlin policies, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

MOSCOW – Following are highlights of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments in an annual question and answer session on Thursday.

MOSCOW – The prosecutor of Russia’s Volga region of Saratov was killed overnight and police believe his murder could be linked to his anti-corruption drive, Russian media reported on Thursday.

LONDON – Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, who feared assassination and faced accusations of plotting a coup in his homeland, has died in Britain and British police are treating his death as suspicious.

BRDO, Slovenia – The European Union sought to convince Russia on Wednesday that the status-quo in Kosovo is unsustainable, the EU’s external relations commissioner said.

MOSCOW – Aspiring NATO member Ukraine is prepared to adopt legislation banning the alliance’s bases from its soil, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko as saying on Wednesday.

MOSCOW – Russia expressed surprise on Tuesday that the United States had scrambled fighter jets at the weekend to intercept strategic Russian bombers, one of which flew over a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Pacific.

MOSCOW – Russia agreed on Monday to write off most of Iraq’s $12.9 billion debt in a deal that opens up Iraq for $4 billion in investment from Russian firms, including oil major LUKOIL.

MOSCOW – A jailed former oil executive gravely ill with HIV/AIDS was transferred to a specialist clinic on Friday, Russia’s prison service said, following an international campaign on his behalf.

MOSCOW  – President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia would not allow itself to be drawn into what he called a new arms race.