| December 2009 |
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A Russian actor has been given a posthumous Federal Security Services (FSB) award for the best role portraying intelligence officer Stirlitz, Russia's equivalent to James Bond.
A new-generation Tu strategic bomber will be developed by 2017, Russian aircraft maker Tupolev said on Wednesday.
Lawmakers of Russia's second city of St. Petersburg have ruled against holding a referendum on Gazprom's controversial project to build a skyscraper in the historic center.
Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland said on Wednesday there were positive indications that Russia would give the green light to the reform of the Strasbourg Court by ratifying the 14th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin blamed Georgia on Wednesday for sending relations with Russia to their all-time low.
The number of people killed in Wednesday's mine blast near the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil has climbed to eight, a spokeswoman for the local emergency services said.
Russia's top sanitary official said the country should prepare for a second stage of swine flu epidemic, which could break out in spring.
The Russian Orthodox Church condemns discrimination against sexual minorities, but treats homosexuality as a sin, Patriarch Kirill said on Wednesday.
At least six people were killed on Wednesday in a blast at a mine near the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil, the press service of Evraz Group, the owner, said.
RIAN News Service looks back at the main events of the outgoing year; below the month-by-month review of 2009 continues, with April:

Russia could start tests of its fifth-generation fighter in late 2009 or early 2010, a deputy prime minister said on Wednesday.
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill said on Wednesday that a priest who was shot dead during the night was killed for refusing to go against his principles.
Russia is not pressuring Belarus to recognize the independence of the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Alexander Surikov said on Wednesday.
A WWII memorial in Georgia, which was demolished on December 19, will be rebuilt in Moscow, the city mayor said on Wednesday.
Georgian opposition leader and former premier Zurab Nogaideli will discuss with Russian officials on Wednesday the rebuilding of a WWII memorial demolished in Georgia.
China is likely to develop a growing military presence in the Middle East over the next decade to protect its interests in the region, a British analyst said on Wednesday.
Russia's handling of the effects of the global economic crisis has shown that the country has become a civilized market economy, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Wednesday.
The head of the Russian nanotechnology corporation expressed confidence on Wednesday that the country could sell 900 billion rubles ($29 bln) worth of products by 2015.
A new Russian nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine should enter service by late 2010, the developer said on Wednesday. 



