Storchak is responsible for Russia's debt policy and oversees the $148 billion stabilization fund, which collects windfall revenues from oil exports.
"The detention took place outside the ministry.
(Read content ‘Russian police detain deputy finance minister (Reuters)’…)
There was no immediate word on whether charges had been filed against Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak. (Read content ‘Russian deputy finance minister detained (AP)’…)
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) canceled the mission to monitor December 2 elections, citing a lack of cooperation from Russia.
"We are troubled that Russia imposed conditions that forced ODIHR to make this decision," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, adding that his government fully supported the OSCE decision.
"The Russian government should honor its commitments as an OSCE member, lift any constraints on ODIHR and permit them to observe the …
(Read content ‘US urges Russia to lift barriers to election monitors (AFP)’…)
The cult members have threatened to blow themselves up with about 100 gallons of stockpiled gasoline if authorities forced them out of what officials described as a cave or bunker near the village of Nikolskoye, about 400 miles southeast of Moscow, said regional spokesman Yevgeny Guseynov.
“Any forceful action is dangerous,” Guseynov said, but he added that doctors and rescuers were nearby and trying to persuade the cult members to leave.
Pyotr Kuznetsov, a self-declared prophet who established his True Russian Orthodox Church after he split with the official church, has not joined his followers.
(Read content ‘Russian doomsday cult holed up in forest (AP)’…)
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said it was withdrawing a planned mission because of a lack of cooperation from President Vladimir Putin's administration ahead of the December 2 election.
The Russian government shrugged off the move and voting started as planned for reindeer herders, sailors, soldiers and others in remote corners of the world's biggest country, two weeks before official polling.
Analysts see the Duma election as a crucial step in Putin's preparations for leaving office — and possibly still holding onto power — at the end of his second Kremlin term next year.
The OSCE said Russian authorities "remain unwilling to receive…
(Read content ‘Vote monitors boycott Russia as early balloting starts (AFP)’…)
Western powers — who say they are concerned democracy in Russia is under threat — backed the watchdog's decision, setting them on a collision course with the Kremlin, which accuses the West of lecturing it about its internal affairs.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation's (OSCE) ODIHR arm, which runs election monitoring missions, said Moscow's failure to issue entry visas to its observer team forced it to conclude Russia was not willing to cooperate.
"In a letter to the Russian Central Election Commission, the ODIHR Director, Ambassador Christian Strohal, regretted this conclusion, but said that due to delays and restrictions, ODIHR would be unable to deliver its mandate," it said in a statement.
"Despite repeated attempts to attain entry visas into the Russian Federation for ODIHR experts and observers, entry visas have continuously been denied."
In a strongly worded statement issued in response, Russia's foreign ministry said it had not created obstacles for the observers but that these had been "invented" by ODIHR chiefs as an excuse to cancel the observation mission.
It added: "The circumstance that C.
(Read content ‘OSCE scraps vote monitor plan in spat with Russia (Reuters)’…)
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that Russia had deliberately hindered the ability of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to send observers for the elections.
“It is extremely unfortunate that the Russian government put up all these obstacles to the OSCE sending a monitoring mission to Russia,” he said.
(Read content ‘US criticizes Russia on election plans (AP)’…)
"Any measure which takes forward the process by which Russia would unilaterally withdraw from the treaty is regrettable," said NATO spokesman James Appathurai.
The remarks came after the unanimous vote in the upper house of parliament to suspend from December 12 compliance with the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, which limits the deployment of troops and military equipment.
"We hope that the talks underway between the signatory states, and those between the United States and Russia, will bring about rapid results" toward resolving the problem, Appathurai said.
The CFE was signed on November 19, 1990 in Paris by NATO and the Warsaw Pact — two opposing blocs during the Cold War — and was modified in 1999 following the fall of the Soviet Union.
Its initial aim was to eliminate the capacity of either side to launch a surprise attack or large-scale military offensive.
Russia has attributed its freeze to the failure of NATO members to ratify the revised 1999 version but Moscow has also been riled by US plans to deploy an anti-missile shield in two former Soviet satellite states.
NATO countries have said they would only ratify the CFE treaty once Moscow has lived up to a pledge to pull its troops out of former Soviet republics Georgia and Moldova.
Appathurai underlined that "NATO countries want to see the adapted treaty enter into force as soon as possible."
NATO remains unconvinced that Russia can legally freeze the treaty and officials and diplomats believe that the mechanism Moscow has set off can only lead to complete withdrawal from the pact.
"The CFE treaty has no suspension clause, only completely withdrawal," one NATO diplomat said, on condition that he not be named.
"Russia's decision to use the term 'suspension' only adds an element of doubt," he said.
The diplomat explained that Russia has, on purpose, not made totally clear its intentions on how it would implement any suspension, while NATO has also not made clear either exactly how it would respond to such a move.
"Does this mean the CFE treaty is dead?
(Read content ‘Russian vote to suspend CFE treaty ‘regrettable’: NATO (AFP)’…)
Russian authorities "remain unwilling to receive … (Read content ‘Election watchdog calls off observer mission to Russian pole (AFP)’…)
Police did not say whether the blast was a bomb or not, although the RIA Novosti news agency later quoted a security source saying it had been a 50-gram bomb.
"I confirm there has been an explosion," a spokesman for the police at the Moscow city administration said.
(Read content ‘Explosion in Moscow injures woman (Reuters)’…)
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