IN MAY 2010, the then president of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev released a document about the massacre of about 22,000 Polish officers and others by the Russian army in 1940.The document was the notorious letter, written on March 5, 1940 by Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Soviet secret police NKVD (precursor to the KGB), to Stalin proposing the execution of the Poles on the grounds that they were all “enemies of the Soviet authorities and full of hate for the Soviet system”.The document, which featured the signatures of Stalin and other members of the Politburo, sent shock-waves across the world, even though the truth was known and nobody had ever believed Stalin’s propaganda which blamed this heinous crime on the Germans... 6 comments

AN OFFICIAL Russian Federation warning to its citizens against buying Greek Cypriot properties in the north is a “powerful slap in the face” for Turkey, Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis said yesterday. The minister welcomed a Russian statement released on Monday, saying that apart from Greece, Russia was the only country to use such strong language on the invasion and occupation of Cyprus.“We’re talking about a crystal clear position of principle of the Russian Federation using unequivocal language,” she said, adding that it constituted a “powerful slap in the face” to Turkey and its breakaway regime.“No country until today, apart from Greece, has used such a clear and revealing expression of policy,” said Marcoullis. ... 10 comments

THE TYPE of bacterium – cronobacter – which the health services detected in a number of baby food samples has a historically high fatality rate of 40 to 80 per cent in infants and has been blamed for the majority of neonatal meningitis cases in six countries over the past 30 years... 2 comments

A passenger plane crashed and burst into flames after takeoff in Siberia on Monday, killing 31 people and putting the spotlight on Russia's poor air-safety record before Vladimir Putin's return as president.Thirteen survivors were pulled from the wreckage but one later died after being rushed by helicopter to hospital in the city of Tyumen, some 1,720 km (1,070 miles) east of Moscow, emergency officials said.Television footage showed the UTair airlines ATR 72, which had snapped in two, lying in a snowy field with only the tail and rear visible. Emergency workers sifted through the wreckage and cleared away the snow... Read on

AUTHORITIES yesterday confirmed that they had impounded a shipment of baby powder from Russia after tests revealed a batch was contaminated with a strain of bacteria potentially deadly to infants.Head of the public health services Christos Christou said authorities acted swiftly and blocked the bulk of the shipment before it reached the market.As part of routine screening, on March 2 samples were taken of a baby-food product imported from Russia and manufactured in Israel. Out of the five samples sent to the state lab, three returned positive, indicating the presence of the bacteria known as sakazakii... 3 comments

A passing piece of potentially dangerous space debris forced astronauts at the International Space Station to temporarily seek refuge in escape ships early on Saturday, U.S. officials said.The debris, a fragment from an old Russian satellite named Cosmos 2251 that smashed into an Iridium Communications spacecraft in 2009, passed harmlessly by the $100 billion orbital outpost at 2:38 a.m. EDT (0638 GMT), NASA said.With enough advance notice, NASA will maneuver the space station, which orbits about 240 miles (386 km) above the planet, to put more space between it and passing debris. The other option is for the station's six crew members to shelter inside the two Soyuz capsules berthed at the station in case the outpost is struck and depressurizes... 1 comment

Syrian forces pounded the battered city of Homs with tank and mortar fire and troops pummelled several other rebel strongholds on Saturday, leaving at least 24 dead, opposition activists said.With the bloodshed showing no signs of abating, the U.N.-Arab League peace envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, flew to Moscow, seeking Russian backing for his efforts to secure a ceasefire.Western and Arab states want Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stand down but Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, has put the onus on the armed rebels and their foreign backers to make the first move... Read on

The European Union banned the wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from travelling to the EU or shopping with European companies in a move to stop her buying the Chanel dresses and Louboutin shoes she apparently craves.The EU's latest round of sanctions, which also targeted the president's mother and sister, is notable for including Assad's London-born wife Asma, whose luxury shopping habit was laid bare this month in a cache of hacked emails.She was once admired for her cosmopolitan glamour, but has over the past year turned into a hate figure for many Syrians, standing by her husband as he conducts a crackdown against a popular uprising in which thousands have been killed... Read on

The U.N. Security Council, including Russia and China, threw its weight on Wednesday behind efforts by Kofi Annan to end the bloody conflict in Syria, providing a rare moment of global unity in the face of the year-long crisis.In a statement approved by all its 15 members, the council threatened Syria with unspecified "further steps" if it failed to comply with Annan's peace plan, which calls for a ceasefire and demands swift access for aid agencies.Although the original statement was diluted at Russia's demand, editing out any specific ultimatums, the fact that all world powers signed up to the proposal dealt a serious blow to President Bashar al-Assad as he battles a popular uprising... Read on

Rebels fought government forces in Damascus on Monday, in the most violent gun battles the Syrian capital has seen since the start of the year-long revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, opposition activists said.The clashes near the centre of Assad's power base appeared to be an attempt by rebels, who have been forced out of Homs and Idlib and came under attack in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Monday, to show they still pose a serious challenge.Fighting erupted after midnight in the upmarket al-Mezze district when up to six rebels fired a rocket propelled grenade at the house of an army general, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR)... Read on