Lenin statue collapses on man in ex-Soviet Belarus, kills him

September 30th, 2009 Russia, Belarus hold joint military exercisesMINSK, Belarus — Russia and Belarus on Tuesday completed two days of massive joint military exercises on bases that are close to borders with NATO members. Officials said about 12,500 servicemen took part in the West-2009 exercises, roughly half from each country, in Russia's westernmost Kaliningrad region, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, and in southern Belarus about 75 miles (125 kilometers) from the Polish border.

August 27th, 2009 Russian anthem author Sergei Mikhalkov dies at 96MOSCOW — Sergei Mikhalkov, who wrote the lyrics for both the Soviet and Russian national anthems and fathered two famous film directors, has died at age 96. Denis Baglai, a spokesman for Mikhalkov's director son Nikita, said he died Thursday, but did not have further details.

August 20th, 2009 President says Belarus ready to work with WestMINSK, Belarus — Belarus' authoritarian president said Thursday he was willing to work with the European Union and the United States, but warned they should not expect him to leave office or to abandon ties with Moscow. The comments by President Alexander Lukashenko struck notes of both cooperation and defiance.

July 15th, 2009 Russia sets up $7.5B fund to help neighborsMOSCOW — Russia set up Wednesday a $7.5 billion crisis fund to help former Soviet nations weather the global economic crisis — and, analysts say, to increase Moscow's clout in the region. The fund was created to aid Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, all members of a group called the Eurasian Economic Communit.

June 17th, 2009 Belarus sets up customs posts on Russia's borderREDKI, Belarus — Belarus has set up customs posts on its border with Russia for the first time in 14 years as a trade dispute between the two countries escalates. Belarusian customs officials say as of Wednesday morning all cargo coming from Russia is subject to new rules, including more stringent inspections.

June 17th, 2009 Belarus puts customs posts on Russia's borderREDKI, Belarus — Belarus set up customs posts on its border with Russia on Wednesday for the first time in 14 years as a trade dispute between the two countries escalated. Belarusian customs officials said that as of Wednesday morning all cargo coming from Russia would be subject to new rules, including more stringent inspections.

June 14th, 2009 Belarus boycotts summit in Russia disputeMOSCOW — Belarus boycotted a Moscow-led security summit on Sunday to protest a Russian ban on Belarusian dairy products, deepening a politically charged dispute between the two ex-Soviet neighbors. The boycott raised the stakes in the confrontation between Russia and Belarus, an authoritarian regime that is now courting the West amid increasingly strained relations with its longtime ally.

June 5th, 2009 Lukashenko accuses Russia of blackmailMINSK, Belarus — Belarus' leader has accused Russia of trying to blackmail Belarus into recognizing the independence of Georgia's separatist provinces. Alexander Lukashenko says Moscow has made recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia a condition for Belarus to receive the last $500 million of a $2 billion loan.

May 30th, 2009 Chavez: Next gift for Obama authored by LeninCARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez says he has a new book for President Barack Obama: "What is to be Done?" by communist Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet state. Chavez says he'll "give it to Obama at the next meeting." "What is to be Done?" is Lenin's political treatise on the role of intellectuals and the proletariat in promoting revolution, written more than a decade before he led the Bolshevik takeover of Russia in 1917.

April 22nd, 2009 MOSCOW - The ongoing economic crisis has already had an effect on everyone in Russia, from oligarchs to humble office workers, and now even Vladimir Lenin in his Red Square mausoleum has felt the pinch, the RIA Novosti news agency said quoting the Trud newspaper. On the eve of the 139th anniversary of the birth of the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, financial difficulties mean that Lenin will be forced to continue wearing an old suit for the sixth straight year, the newspaper said Tuesday.

April 22nd, 2009 Russian Communists honor Soviet founder LeninMOSCOW — Russia's Communist Party leader left flowers at the tomb of Vladimir Lenin on the Soviet founder's 139th birthday Wednesday and pledged to resist any plans to remove Lenin's embalmed body from Moscow's Red Square. Gennady Zyuganov led hundreds of supporters of the dwindling Communist Party in a procession on the square to commemorate the man they still call a great reformer.

April 17th, 2009 MOSCOW - The authorities in Russia's Rostov region have started work to restore a 'hand on boob' statue which was daubed with red paint by vandals in the southern town of Bataysk. The monument, built by Maria Shuiga, depicts a man's hand resting on a female's left breast.

March 7th, 2009 MOSCOW - A St. Petersburg-based communist group Friday said it would raise money to build public statues of communist leader Vladimir Lenin's wife and mistress.

February 15th, 2009 KATHMANDU - After fighting over the Buddha, the apostle of peace and non-violence, Nepal's former guerrilla party, the Maoists, are now blowing cold towards the world icon, flaying his inclusion at a communist meet. The Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) has come under Maoist fire over its critical convention that kicks off at Butwal town outside Kathmandu valley Monday to choose a new leader.

January 20th, 2009 MOSCOW - An opinion poll has shown that two- thirds of Russians believe that the embalmed body of the Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin should be removed from its mausoleum on Red Square and buried. Lenin's body has been on public display in a glass case in downtown Moscow since his death Jan 21, 1924.