Moscow  - Russia set out its development goals until 2012 this year, but the four-year budget plan hardly matched reality - something which even the Finance Ministry had to admit.

Economists have halved the country's growth forecast as the real cost of the credit freeze and a dive in the price of Russia's main export commodities set in, but Moscow appears to be rolling ahead with an expansive foreign policy and ambitious domestic infrastructure and social spending.

While governments all over the world scrambled to legislate bail- outs for flagship sectors in distress, Moscow's initial reaction was to cast the country as immune to the crisis.

Tbilisi/Kiev  - The Russo-Georgian War in August of this year demonstrated a basic truth about the Russian army: it is a sledgehammer, not a rapier, and a fairly effective sledgehammer at that.

The five-day conflict left few doubts that, when it came to high tech and training, Russia's fighting men are behind modern armed forces. Western experts routinely pointed out during the conflict how antiquated some parts of the Russian military are.

However, the well-orchestrated, lightning invasion also made clear that the Kremlin's soldiers are more than capable of using ingenuity and overwhelming numbers to crush an opponent like the Georgian military.

Moscow  - Russia will deliver 10 MiG-29 fighter jets to Lebanon as a gift, the head of the federal military and technical cooperation service said Wednesday.

Mikhail Dmitriyev called the donation a means of "military and technical assistance provided for in the (Russian) budget."

The jets are to be fully outfitted to "export standards" before being shipped, he said.

The export price tag on the Soviet-designed MiG-29, still seen as one of Russia's best war planes, is about 30 million dollars, industry experts said.

Chisinau - A Russian import firm imported a lorry shipment of Moldovan wine on Tuesday, ending a two-year Kremlin boycott of bulk imports.

The lorry container load was destined for processing by the Moscow-based Imperial Vin beverage company. Moldova's Gatchinsky Spirit Factory was the exporter.

The Russian government banned all wine imports from Moldova in 2006, citing worries about low quality and possibly dangerous additives.

Moldovan producers said the embargo was groundless, pointing out Moldovan wine had long competed successfully in markets with stricter health standards than Russia's such as the European Union.

Moscow - Walt Disney has applied to Russian authorities for permission to form a joint venture with broadcaster Media-One Holdings to launch a family channel on
30 stations in Russia, local media reported on Wednesday.

Disney would hold 49 per cent stake in the Russian television venture, invest cash and provide programming and marketing expertise. Media-One is to stand as the majority shareholder.

The channel is set to be launched next year, pending approval by Russia's regulatory authorities, in what is one of the world's fastest growing media markets.

Moscow - The mayor of a town in north-western Russia has been stabbed to death by an unknown attacker, news agencies cited a police source as saying Wednesday.

"An unidentified person ran up to the mayor as she was leaving her house, stabbed her in the neck and fled the scene," the source said.

The motive for the attack late Tuesday evening was unclear, the security source said.

A suspect, who had earlier worked with the Kandalaksha mayor, Nina Varlamova, in the local government, has been detained, local police said.

Varlamova took office in December 2007 after the previous mayor of the Northern Russian town was jailed for corruption, news agencies reported.