MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia"s...

MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia"s Gazprom and Poland"s PGNiG have agreed to extend their natural gas contract until 2037 with an increase in supplies, the companies said on Friday.

Europe has offered Russia help in achieving...

Europe has offered Russia help in achieving its goal of modernizing the economy, but said it should start with improving democracy in the country, a Russian business daily said on Thursday.

(Adds details, background in paras 3-9)...

(Adds details, background in paras 3-9) MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow District Military Court has upheld an arrest warrant for an Audit Chamber employee who was earlier detained on suspicion of receiving a 1 million euro ($1.4 million) bribe. The court rejected an appeal from Yury Gaidukov"s lawyers, who claimed his arrest was unlawful. Lawyer Vladimir Samokhin told journalists he plans to appeal to a higher court. Earlier reports said that Gaidukov was an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) assigned to the Audit Chamber. However, the FSB denied that Gaidukov was its employee. Gaidukov is charged with receiving a bribe during an audit of the power and engineering company, Energomash. However, another lawyer, Igor Pastukhov, said the criminal case was "instigated to avoid accusations of violations uncovered during the audit." The head of Russia"s Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov, denied that Energomash management was involved in bribing an Audit Chamber representative. Lyudmila Aivar, the lawyer of another defendant in the case, said the Audit Chamber had discovered violations in Energomash"s business activities that could have led to the company"s management facing criminal proceedings. "After that, the management turned to a large legal company, headed by my client, for consultations on settling the situation, that is, how to eradicate the violations," she said, adding that her client, now in a pre-trial detention center, was paid for the legal assistance he rendered Energomash.