MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti commentator Anatoly Korolyov) For the first 500 years of its existence, Russia did not have a coat of arms, or a national flag or anthem. In the middle ages, instead of a flag, the prince's troops carried a miraculous icon, and before embarking on a campaign or going into battle, the men would usually pray in front of the holy image.
A Moscow court on Wednesday ruled against an appeal submitted by a suspect in the Arctic Sea ship seizure case, upholding a lower court ruling not to hand the case to investigators in Malta or Sweden.
Russia will impose a full customs duty on oil deliveries to Belarus starting January 1 after the failure of bilateral talks on Thursday, the Russian government"s press service said.