MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator...

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Maxim Krans) - Santa Claus might soon be a Russian citizen. At least, that is the hope of well-known Arctic explorer Artur Chilingarov, who will lead Arctic 2007, one of the biggest expeditions in the history of polar research.

MOSCOW, October 11 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian...

MOSCOW, October 11 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Soyuz spacecraft"s reentry capsule with Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, NASA astronaut Michael Barratt and space tourist Guy Laliberte aboard safely landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday.

MOSCOW, January 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia"s...

MOSCOW, January 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia"s auto makers have competed their transition to the Euro 3 emission standard in vehicle production, the chief executive of the Association of Russian Auto Makers said on Wednesday. From January 1, 2008, Russia introduced Euro 3 exhaust emission standards, prohibiting production or imports of vehicles that fail to meet the requirements. Euro 3 standards were introduced in the European Union in 2000. "The transition was difficult for the auto industry but everything necessary has been done, and from January 1 we switched completely to the production of vehicles in accordance with the Euro 3 standard," Igor Korovkin said. The executive said the adoption of the Euro 3 standard raised prices by an average of 200 euros (about $300) for cars and 1,000 euros ($1,490) for trucks. Korovkin said Russian auto producers were now preparing for transition to the cleaner Euro 4 emission standards, adopted by EU states in 2005.