Russia

Re "Russia summit met a low bar," July 8 and "U.S., Russia -- a little thaw," Editorial, July 7 The Obama administration and the media are calling Russia's decision to give the U.S. military access across its territory into Afghanistan a sign of progress between the two countries. Let's remember: Russia assisted North Vietnam with military supplies that helped defeat the U.S. forces. The United States assisted the Afghans/Osama bin Laden to defeat Russian forces. The chess game was even at that point.

Four white marble hotels opened here in June on a spit of sand by a landlocked sea -- the beginnings of what is billed as Central Asia's answer to Las Vegas, an opulent $5-billion oasis of seaside villas, casinos, an artificial island and a ski center. The resort-to-be stands out in this arid country, where camels clop down dirt roads and bedraggled Soviet-era apartment blocks doze in the blistering desert heat. Yet Turkmenistan also sits atop the world's fifth-largest reserves of natural gas, and is rapidly emerging as a key player in global energy markets.

Vice President Joe Biden pledged support for efforts by Ukraine and Georgia to break free of Russia's orbit, saying Washington would not recognize Kremlin claims to an exclusive sphere of influence over former Soviet states. "As we reset the relationship with Russia, we reaffirm our commitment to an independent Ukraine, and we recognize no sphere of influence or no ability of any other nation to veto the choices an independent nation makes," Biden declared in Kiev, Ukraine's capital.

A top Russian general says two nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines that have been spotted off the U.S. East Coast are part of regular patrols. Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff of Russia's armed forces, says the patrols are not newsworthy. Nogovitsyn said Russia resumed the submarine patrols after restarting strategic bomber patrol flights in 2007. U.S. Defense officials have said the Russian submarines have been patrolling in international waters for several days.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the site of a hydroelectric plant accident in Siberia that killed 47 workers and promised compensation for their families, and those of 28 others still missing. Putin acknowledged that there is little hope anyone could still be alive after four days in near-freezing water. An explosion Monday blew out walls and caused the turbine room at Russia's largest power plant to flood. The cause of the accident is unclear but officials cited a faulty turbine and a rise of pressure in the pipes as possible triggers.

Seventy years ago Sunday, the Soviet Union signed a pact with Nazi Germany that gave dictator Josef Stalin a free hand to take over part of Poland and the Baltic states on the eve of World War II. Most of the world now condemns the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but Russia has mounted a new defense of the 1939 treaty as it seeks to restore some of its now-lost sphere of influence. "This is all being rehabilitated because this is now a very lively issue for Russia," said military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer.

AP reporter Mansur Mirovalev and AP photographer Alexander Zemlianichenko followed dozens of migrants on an illegal six-day bus journey from Uzbekistan to Russia. Here is their story. -- On paper, the bus does not exist. It has no schedule, and no route. It shows up mysteriously, and just as mysteriously, the dozens of men who await it know when it is coming. Every year, the ghost bus -- and its many cousins in Uzbekistan -- transports hundreds of migrants to Russia, crossing two state borders and 2,200 miles of steppe, desert and farmland.

You can take a lot from Russia; it has lost plenty already: cash, empire, territory, clout. Russia is tough and wintry; Russia survives undaunted. But there's one thing you can't take from Russia, and maybe it has something to do with all that loss: the bottle. No leader has ever cracked down on Russia's epic drinking and been kindly remembered for his trouble. But now the young president says he is going to try. In a country where you can sip vodka at the playground while watching your children scramble on the jungle gym and polish off a business meeting with endless rounds of toasts, Dmitry Medvedev has launched a classic public relations campaign against drinking, complete with blistering condemnations, public commands to his underlings and the promise (or threat)

President Evo Morales has decided to buy a presidential plane from Russia after Moscow offered to set up an aircraft maintenance center in the South American nation. Defense Minister Walker San Miguel announced in early August that Bolivia had agreed to purchase an Antonov presidential plane with satellite phone, Internet links and a meeting room from Russia for $30 million. Morales postponed the purchase, but said his government has now decided to buy it because of the offer to set up a service center for Russian planes in Bolivia.