Russian Federation

A democratic faction has nominated Communist maverick Boris N. Yeltsin to run for president of the Russian Federation, the largest of the Soviet Union's 15 republics and a potential power base against President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic will be chosen by the republic's 1,026-member Congress of People's Deputies when it convenes in Moscow on May 16 packed with radical legislators who won seats in last month's elections.

The videos feature some of Russia's most famous actors, writers, directors, musicians and other VIPs, all united by the heartfelt slogan: "Why I am voting for Putin. " Violist Yuri Bashmet compares Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the great violin-maker Antonio Stradivari, saying that his "golden period is yet far ahead. " One of the country's most loved actors, Oleg Tabakov, says Putin has his vote in the March 4 presidential election because he "wants to be good and honest.

President Vladimir V. Putin declared Monday that voters in the war-torn republic of Chechnya had overwhelmingly approved a new pro-Moscow constitution, but outside observers questioned the referendum and the long-term prospects for stability. Election officials, citing incomplete results, claimed that 96% of voters had backed the constitution, which confirms the region's status as part of Russia. They said turnout in Sunday's balloting was 79%.

Talk about your American Dream. One day you're a 28-year-old red-haired beauty from Russia trying to make it as a "businesswoman" in New York City. The next, your name and sexy Facebook profile photo are splashed all over the world, your every status update — "Pain is only weakness leaving the body," for instance — the subject of international fascination. You are a femme fatale. And all you did was allegedly participate in a Russian spy ring. Every good Cold-War-style spy scandal needs a Natasha, and Anna Chapman, who appeared in court Monday in designer jeans and a white T-shirt, has emerged as the tale's sexy antagonist.

In a stunning announcement, Lithuanian Prime Minister Kazimiera Prunskiene resigned today after the Baltic republic's Parliament rejected price rises she had sponsored. "I resign with my Cabinet of ministers," she told Parliament. Local journalists said the session was broadcast live on local radio. Several deputies called on ministers responsible for the price rises to step down. Parliament later voted to accept Prunskiene's resignation.

Populist politician Boris N. Yeltsin, locked in a fight with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev over how to share power, threatened Monday to hold a referendum to determine whether the Russian people really want to grant the increasingly unpopular Gorbachev more authority.

Bowing to the inevitable, Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin backed down Tuesday from his imposition of a state of emergency in the Chechen-Ingush region, a rebellious Muslim enclave in Russia. The Soviet press, commenting on the first difficult test of Yeltsin's ability to solve ethnic problems, criticized him for initiating a policy so ineffectual and dangerous that it had to be immediately repealed.

In the latest round of the rivalry at the pinnacle of Soviet power, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's allies nearly wrecked Russian Federation leader Boris N. Yeltsin's plans for a key parliamentary session Tuesday, but the two managed to forge yet another uneasy compromise.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's admonishing forefinger froze in midair. His voice was drowned out by the cries and applause of Russian lawmakers, and Boris N. Yeltsin was not listening to him anyway. "I am now signing a decree suspending the activities of the Russian Communist Party," boomed Yeltsin, president of the Russian Federation. And so he did, ignoring Gorbachev's pleas--"Boris Nikolayevich . . . Boris Nikolayevich . . . "--and virtually brandishing the document in his face.

Boris N. Yeltsin, the Russian Federation's newly elected president with a mandate for change, said Friday that he sees no way to save the Soviet Union's Communist system and that he will press ahead with radical reforms to bring the country a broad democracy and a market economy. "I think that Communists, honest Communists, are starting to understand that the system is beginning to collapse and that there is no way to save it," Yeltsin said, commenting on his election victory this week.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the arrests in an alleged Moscow-run "deep cover" spy operation in the United States were "baseless and unseemly," and suggested the case could hurt U.S.-Russian relations. "It is deeply regrettable that such things happen in the backdrop of a 'reset' in Russian-American relations," the ministry said in a statement. The defendants, the ministry said, "have not perpetrated any actions detrimental to the interests of the U.S." Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was more guarded, saying he hoped the scandal would not derail efforts to improve conditions between the two countries.

The European Parliament awarded its top human rights prize to Memorial, a Russian group that campaigns against abuses of power, underscoring what activists say is a worsening situation in the country. Memorial, which tracks human rights abuses across the former Soviet Union, made headlines in July when its activist Natalia Estemirova was found dead after being kidnapped in her native Chechnya. European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, in announcing the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named for the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, said the assembly hoped "to contribute to ending the circle of fear and violence surrounding human rights defenders in the Russian Federation."

Miss Constitution had yellow curls that bounced down her back, wide blue eyes and a sweet if faltering singing voice. She shimmied barefoot, donned a swimsuit in freezing temperatures and spoke plausibly about the responsibilities of the Russian state. When her moment of glory came, Masha Fyodorova was draped in the Russian flag and handed the keys to a brand-new, pink-and-orange Mini Cooper.

Mikhail Kasyanov served as Russian prime minister from 2000 to 2004. Friendly to the West and outspoken on the need for democratic reform, he was stripped of his job as then-President Vladimir Putin gradually centralized power. Since then, Kasyanov has taken up a prominent position among Russia's dwindling opposition, running for president until the Central Election Commission early this year accused him of forging signatures and banned his candidacy. The Times interviewed him this week in his office.

Russian federal police in war-battered Chechnya regularly engage in torture of detainees, the republic's Kremlin-backed president declared Friday, as he announced a criminal investigation into the alleged abuse. President Ramzan Kadyrov, whose own Chechen forces have faced frequent allegations of human rights abuses, including kidnappings, torture and killings, singled out a detention facility known as ORB-2 and run by the Russian Interior Ministry in the town of Urus-Martan.

A former Russian spy who said he had been poisoned died Thursday night at a London hospital after a mysterious and rapid decline that left doctors puzzled over the cause of death, officials said. Alexander Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, had suffered heart failure and was heavily sedated as medical staff struggled to pinpoint what had made the 43-year-old critically ill.

The Soviet government Monday banned all political demonstrations in Moscow until mid-April to prevent backers of Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin from holding a mass rally to support him in a showdown with Communist Party conservatives this week. A government order, requested by President Mikhail S.

Boris N. Yeltsin's decisive victory in the Russian Federation presidential election will propel him into a key role in shaping the future of the Soviet Union, and that outlook is now for a more rapid and radical break with the socialism of the past 73 years. Yeltsin won 60% of the votes in the election on Wednesday, according to a provisional report by the Russian Central Election Commission, after campaigning for a popular mandate to accelerate the pace of change and broaden its scope.

While it remains out of reach in Russia, a centuries-old collection of Jewish religious books and letters evokes an image of a distant light for Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin.

His feet went out from under him, and seconds later, so did his hopes for a rare calendar-year Grand Slam. You knew it would take a knockdown of Roger Federer to knock him out of a major tournament. After all, Marat Safin of Russia needed a little help from somewhere after nearly 4 1/2 hours and six squandered match points in a wild, sprawling Australian Open semifinal against the world's top-ranked player.