Russia's effort to promote a demographic revival may be working. Tatyana Golikova, Russia's minister of health and social development minister said Friday that 1.6 million babies were born in the country last year in 2007, the highest number of births since 1991. According to the McClatchy-Tribune news service, the birth total for 2007 was up by 122,750 from 2006. Last January, Russian legislators approved incentives to encourage Russians to have more children.

And maybe some good news for those of... more

Russia signed a $15 billion agreement with Bulgaria on Friday to build a natural gas pipeline under the Black Sea. The deal will allow Russia to ship gas to Europe but bypass Turkey. According to The New York Times, analysts are worried that it could also make Europe more dependent on energy from Russia: The European Union has been trying to pull together its own pipeline project through Tukey, which... more

Russia named nationalist politician Dmitry Rogozin as its new representative to NATO. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the 44-year-old Rogozin has led several marches and demonstrations to assert the rights ethnic Russians. He has been strongly critical of the West and NATO, and is opposed to the missile-defense shield that the United States has proposed deploying in Poland and the Czech Republic. Rogozin kicked off his tenure by giving a... more

With Russia on holiday break until after Russian Orthodox Christmas, this week's news is all business.

The lead story is energy: According to a report in the London-based newspaper The Financial Times, Russia's Gazprom is negotiating for a major stake in Nigeria's energy reserves. The talks, which a Nigerian official characterized as "mind-boggling" were confirmed to the paper by a Gazprom executive. Nigeria is Africa's biggest supplier of crude oil... more

In case you haven't noticed, there's a presidential election coming up in the United States. Many voters have litmus tests by which to judge the candidates. Mine is healthcare reform. But if, as someone who has adopted from Russia or is preparing to adopt from that country, your measuring stick is a candidate's policy on Russia, The Washington Post has a piece that might interest you. (Only two candidates have so far come out with positions on adoption, former New York... more

Russia's population continued to fall in 2007, but the decline was slightly less than the drop in 2006. According to the RIA Novosti news agency, Russia's population had fallen by 207,600 to 142 million as of November 1. Citing the government's statistical service, it said that there had been an 87.9% jump in immigration to Russia, with most of the newcomers coming from former Soviet republics. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been working to improve Russia's demographics with measures like increased maternity... more

The biggest news this week was, by far, Russia's re-accreditation of 12 more adoption agencies. The group, which included nine agencies based in the United States, brings to 26 the number of American agencies re-accredited.

Time magazine chose Russian President Vladimir Putin as its man of the year for 2007. In explaining its choice, the magazine noted that "Russia is central to our world--and the new world that is being born." It added that "if Russia succeeds... more

This week, we learned who the next president of Russia will be and who will be his prime minister.

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin--who cannot run for a third consecutive term--named First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as his choice for president. One day later, Medvedev returned the favor by saying that Putin was his choice for Prime Minister. Yes, there will still be a presidential election on March 2, but given the strong win by the pro-Putin United Russia party in the December 2 parliamentary elections, Medvedev seems to have a lock on the presidency. ... more

The big news for the week was, of course, the big win by President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in the December 2 legislative elections. According to a preliminary tally, United Russia won 64.3% of the votes cast and A Just Russia, a party loyal to the Kremlin, won 7.7%. The ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party won 8.1% of the vote, while the Communist part won 11.6%. Among those elected: Andrei Lugovoy, a businessman sought by British police in connection with the murder by radioactive poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006.... more

Apologies. A host of reasons--personal, professional and most of all technical--kept me from getting this news to you as fast as I should have: There has been a new round of accreditations issued in Russia. The accreditations apparently were signed on November 22 or 23, but word of them did not get out until last week.

The list includes nine agencies, four of which are American, and the rest from Belgium, Canada, Israel and Italy. That was somewhat disappointing news to those of us who have been waiting for a large group of American agency re-accreditations. But given... more