In his statement at the high-level plenary meeting of the 60th UN General Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about "the split of civilizations" and the need to overcome it. He used the phrase in the context of "coordinating international cooperation in the fight against terrorism . . .

An appeal by ex-YUKOS chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky and business partner and head of Menatep, Platon Lebedev, began in the Moscow City Court today. They had been sentenced to nine years in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion. The defense had asked the court to overturn the verdict . . .

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair at the 60th anniversary summit of the UN General Assembly to discuss cooperation in fighting international terrorism. The Russian leader also thanked Blair for the efficient preparations for the Russia-EU summit. . .

“The government’s goal is to form a powerful anti-oligarchic coalition by 2008 and prevent a state coup,” Sergei Markov, director of Political Studies Institute, told reporters on Tuesday.

President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that he will not run for the Russian presidency in 2008. At a Kremlin meeting with the Russian president, foreign political scientists and analysts asked Putin if he could give a definite answer . . .

The Russian government will not be reshuffled, Russian President Vladimir Putin has told journalists speaking on the board of Peter the Great guided missile cruiser in the Barents Sea. Putin believes that nothing changes better for the country with personnel shifts, Mayak radio reported. According to Putin . . .

In a bizarre development, Russian government is offering forgiveness that no one has sought. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin is dangling an amnesty in front of tax evaders without having the stick to enforce taxes. After the mess of monetization earlier in the year, the latest plans show that the finance minister . . .

President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Education Ministry and the Russian Academy of Sciences to create favorable conditions for the development of research and education. At a meeting with Yuri Osipov, the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Education and Science Minister . . .

ICT, the St. Petersburg-based holding of Alexander Nesis, has sold control of the Baltic Plant, its principal maritime industry asset and St.Petersburg's leading civil shipbuilder, for less than $100 million. The move, which was not revealed during interviews last week with ICT spokesman, Anton Laptev . . .

The rescued Russian submariners hope to thank personally their British rescuers. The submariners who are currently in a military hospital failed to meet their British rescuers after the rescue effort, although they waited for them in the hospital and even prepared their fleet caps to give as a present. . .