MOSCOW, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Russia has agreed to develop an
Iranian zinc deposit that is among the largest in the world in a
deal involving an Iranian bank facing international sanctions,
its Energy Ministry said on Tuesday.

The agreement to develop the Mehdiabad zinc and
lead deposit was reached at a trade meeting on Sept. 11 that
brought Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko to Iran, the
ministry said in emailed comments.

MOSCOW, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Russia has agreed to develop an
Iranian zinc deposit that is among the largest in the world in a
deal involving an Iranian bank that faces international
sanctions, the Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported on
Tuesday.

The agreement to develop the Mehdiabad zinc and
lead deposit was reached at a trade meeting on Sept. 11 that
brought Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko to Iran,
Kommersant reported.

MOSCOW, Aug 19 (Reuters) – Twenty years after a failed coup hastened the end of the Soviet Union, many Russians look back with regret and cynicism, underscoring the ambivalence many feel for the new Russia and their uncertainty about the future.

“I remember the tanks rolling toward the center of the city, the disorder,” said Mikhail Shchilev, 59, steps away from the Kremlin walls.

Aug 18 (Reuters) – * Chinese fighter may be based on
Russian plane – experts

* Analysts suggest Russia helping China boost military might

* Relations cordial but suspicions run deep between powers

By Thomas Grove

MOSCOW, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Similarities between a new
Chinese fighter jet and a prototype Russian plane have brought
suggestions that Moscow may be quietly helping Beijing compete
with the world’s top military powers.

ZHUKOVSKY, Russia (Reuters) – Russia’s top arms exporter said on Wednesday it intended to continue selling weapons to Syria, despite calls from the United States for Moscow to halt its weapons trade with Damascus.

Russia, the world’s second largest arms exporter, wants to make up for $4 billion of contracts lost when the United Nations placed an arms embargo on Libya this year and is also looking to Africa, South America and Southeast Asia to compensate.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will showcase its top-of-the-range fighter jets and newest space shuttles at the MAKS airshow, starting on Tuesday, and an ambitious program to upgrade its arms looks set to make Moscow the biggest buyer at its own show.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is expected to visit the biennial event on Wednesday, and highlights will include the first public flight of Russia’s long-delayed, fifth-generation T-50 fighter plane.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has drawn up a list of U.S. officials to be barred from entering the country in response to U.S. visa restrictions imposed on Russian officials over the death of a lawyer, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

If the report by the business daily Kommersant is confirmed, the decision will be the latest of several signs in the past few weeks that the “reset” aimed at improving U.S.-Russian relations under U.S. President Barack Obama is under threat.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – At least eight people died and one person was missing Sunday after a riverboat collided with a barge and sank in the Moscow River, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said.

The private boat carrying 16 people sank after colliding with the river barge at around 1 a.m. (2100 GMT). Russian media quoted passengers as saying the boat had been rented for a birthday celebration.

GROZNY, Russia (Reuters) – Lying on a couch with her eyes closed, 26-year-old Milena sips water blessed by an Islamic healer who sits nearby reciting verses from the Koran to cure her depression.

Outside, a long line of patients wait at Chechnya’s state-run Islamic Medical Center, hoping its staff can heal deep psychological wounds left by years of war in the volatile region in Russia’s North Caucasus.