NIZHNY NOVGOROD, December 20 (RIA Novosti)...

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, December 20 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian provincial school head accused of pirating Microsoft software said on Thursday he will appeal a guilty verdict in Russia"s Supreme Court and in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Alexander Ponosov, a school principal in a small town in the Perm Region, was fined 5,000 rubles ($194) in May for buying a set of computers for the school which had unlicensed Microsoft software installed. "I have sent a preliminary claim against the verdict to Strasbourg, and I will complete the official documentation with a lawyer"s help in the near future. In addition, we will appeal the ruling in Russia"s Supreme Court," Ponosov said. The court put the material damage to the Microsoft Corporation at 266,000 rubles ($10,322). But Ponosov maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, saying he was unaware that the Windows software installed on the PCs was counterfeit. Microsoft has taken no legal action against him. The maximum possible penalty under Russian law for this offense is five years in prison. Piracy had been a stumbling block in Russia"s WTO accession talks with the United States until an agreement was reached in November 2006, when Moscow promised a clampdown on intellectual property violations in the country, the second-largest market for pirated material after China.

MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - The volume...

MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - The volume of natural gas deliveries to Denmark via the Nord Stream pipeline could later be increased to 3 billion cubic meters a year, the Russian prime minister said on Monday.

MOSCOW, May 12 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian...

MOSCOW, May 12 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian government"s foreign debt, including liabilities of the former Soviet Union, declined 2.7% in January-March 2009 to $39.5 billion, the Finance Ministry reported on Tuesday. However, exchange rate differences mean that when calculated in euros, the government"s foreign debt increased 3.8% to 29.9 billion euros, the ministry said. Non-restructured debts to official creditors that are parties to the Paris Club of creditor nations declined $100 million to $1.3 billion in the reporting period, the ministry said. Debts to official creditors outside the Paris Club ($1.9 billion), former Communist bloc countries ($1.4 billion) and also former Soviet debts to foreign commercial creditors ($1.2 billion) were unchanged in January-March 2009, the ministry said. Also unchanged in the reporting period were outstanding government domestic foreign currency-denominated bonds (OVGVZ) at $1.8 billion and Russia"s foreign currency denominated government guarantees at $0.6 billion. The Russian government"s liabilities to international financial institutions shrank by $300 million to $4.3 billion, and the amount of Russia"s outstanding Eurobonds declined from $27.7 billion as of January 1 to $27 billion as of April 1, the ministry said.