London, Oct.1 : Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, the driving force behind a Russian opposition campaign to remove President Vladimir Putin from office, was last night selected to be its presidential candidate.
According to The Telegraph, Kasparov received 379 out of 498 votes cast at a National Congress held in Moscow.

The Russia's presidential election in which Mr Putin is constitutionally barred from standing, will take place in March 2008.

Washington, Sept 28 : Pakistan and Russia are the two most vulnerable countries to nuclear theft, according to a new report by a prestigious Washington think-tank.

The report by the group called Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) says that of the states that have either nuclear weapons or significant amounts of high-quality weapons-usable materials, only Pakistan fares as poorly as Russia in Transparency International’s ratings of corruption levels.

Washington, Sept.22 : Rock samples retrieved last month from beneath the Arctic Ocean indicate that the North Pole is part of Russia, the Russian government announced yesterday.

The Russians contend that the Lomonosov Ridge, an undersea structure running across the Arctic Ocean beneath the pole, is a geological extension of the Russian region of Siberia.

Moscow: In order to enhance its modest Russian juice market share, US snack and beverage giant PepsiCo is all set to get hold of 76 per cent of Russia’s leading juice maker, Lebedyansky for $2 billion.

PepsiCo is making concluding discussions over the acquisition that will be the biggest ever in the worldwide juice industry. The deal would have effect before the year end.

Moscow: India is desperate to get into the profitable construction business, chiefly to build up world-class hotels, in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi that will host 2014 Winter Olympics.

Indian ambassador Kanwal Sibal allged, “Ahead of the winter Olympics in Sochi we are keen to build world class hotels here and would like to pick local contacts for this.”

Mr. Sibal was speaking at a business gathering during his visit to the Krasnodar Territory in south Russia, which is also called the country’s breadbasket and seaside resort land.