Terrorism Suspected in Russian Train Blast

Chicago Tribune - Terrorism suspected in Russian train blast

Russian investigators today launched a terrorism probe into a bomb blast that derailed an express train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, injuring more than 60 people traveling on one of the country's busiest rail routes.

The explosion occurred late Monday near the city of Novgorod, about 300 miles northwest of Moscow. Investigators said they believe a homemade bomb placed underneath the railroad tracks was detonated by remote control as the Nevsky Express train passed by with 251 people aboard.

Russia Withdraws from Arms Pact with NATO

The Observer - Kremlin tears up arms pact with Nato

President Vladimir Putin yesterday signalled that Russia was on a new and explosive collision course with Nato when he dumped a key arms control treaty limiting the deployment of conventional forces in Europe.

Putin said Moscow was unilaterally withdrawing from the Soviet-era Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty because of 'extraordinary circumstances that affect the security of the Russian Federation', the Kremlin said. These required 'immediate measures'.

The treaty governs where Nato and Russia can station their troops in Europe. Moscow's decision to bin it suggests that Putin's talks earlier this month with President George Bush came to nothing, and that the Kremlin has reverted to its earlier belligerent mood. The Kremlin has for months been bitterly incensed by the Bush administration's decision to site elements of its missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Reuters - U.S. may build shield in Poland in Feb: report

The United States may start building a missile shield in Poland in February 2008, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said in an interview published in a Russian newspaper on Monday.

Washington wants to place interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic to protect the United States and its allies from potential missile attacks from Iran.

Here is my previous post related to the missile shield.

Russian Missiles May Target Europe

AP - Putin: Missiles may target Europe (Internet Archive link)

Moscow could aim nuclear weapons at targets in Europe as part of "retaliatory steps" if Washington proceeds with building a missile defense system on the continent, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

Speaking to foreign reporters days before he travels to Germany for the annual summit with President Bush and the other Group of Eight leaders, Putin assailed the White House plan to place a radar system in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in neighboring Poland. Washington says the system is needed to counter a potential threat from Iran.

In an interview released Monday, Putin suggested that Russia may respond to the threat by aiming its nuclear weapons at Europe.

My previous posts on this missile shield situation can be seen here:

What's Going On With Russia?

Russian Missiles Can Be Fired At Europe

Russia Capable Of Hitting U.S. Missile Shield

Censorship in Russia

MosNews - Russian Journalists Report Media Restrictions

Russia’s biggest private radio networks journalist said they had been told to keep Kremlin critics off the air by new managers brought in from state-run television, Reuters news agency reported April 19.

Managers at the Russian News Service, which provides news to Russia’s most listened-to radio station and its sister stations, denied they were imposing censorship. But staff members said their new bosses had blocked live reports from anti-Kremlin protests over the weekend and blacklisted the chess champion and opposition activist Garry Kasparov from being mentioned.

New managers at the service were also urging journalists to give more airtime to representatives of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, staff said.

The 20 Dead Journalists in Russia

The Independent - The 20 journalists who have lost their lives in Putin's Russia

Far from being an individual tragedy, the death of Ivan Safronov will be seen by many as part of a grim trend. The Kommersant reporter is at least the 20th Russian journalist to die in suspicious circumstances since 2000, when Vladimir Putin assumed the Russian presidency. Shot, stabbed or poisoned, the journalists have two things in common: no one has been convicted, or in most cases even arrested, after their deaths. And all of them had angered powerful vested interests which appear to suffer little restraint in dealing with their enemies.