There were no more accreditations announced this week, which is not entirely surprising since August is traditionally a slow month for government work in Russia. Instead, this week's news is all business and politics.

The latter first. On Friday, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is reviving long-range patrols by bomber aircraft. Reuters said the move, which was a Soviet-era practice, was in response to "security threats". A White House spokesman told the news agency that the move was "not entirely surprising." Washington and the Kremlin have been sparring over U.S. plans to build a missile defense shield in eastern Europe for much of this year.

Also on Friday, President Putin said that the bombing that derailed a Moscow to St. Petersburg train on Monday shows that "not everything has been done" to wipe out terrorism in Russia. No passengers were killed in the derailment, but 60 were injured, including six seriously. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

In business, International Paper has agreed to buy 50% of the Russian paper and pulp mill operator Ilim Holding for about $650 million. According to AFX News Limited, the Memphis-based paper giant will invest about $1.5 billion in Ilim's mills over the next five years.

PepsiCo might be trying to squeeze more out of its operations in Russia--or maybe not. Early in the week, the Moscow Times and several other news organizations reported that PepsiCo was set to buy a 76% stake in Lebedyansky, the top Russian juice maker. But on Friday, a key shareholder of Lebedyansky told Reuters that no talks had been held with the U.S. beverage company. According to the news service, PepsiCo now has only 2% the Russian juice market and doesn’t have any plants there.

According to the BBC, the former owner of a Russian Web site that dealt in cut-price downloads of Western music has been acquitted of copyright infringement by a Moscow court. The head of Russia's anti-piracy organization said the verdict in favor of Allofmp3.com set a "very bad precedent". Allofmp3.com was shuttered by Russian authorities in June; it had offered single tracks for the equivalent of 10 cents and entire albums for $1.

Speaking of the BBC, if you're accustomed to listing to its radio shows, don’t plan on catching them while you're in Russia on your adoption journey. Its Russian-language FM broadcasts were taken off the air by its Moscow distributor. According to a report in the International Herald Tribune, Bolshoye Radio termed the programs "foreign propaganda"; Bolshoye's parent company said it would focus on originally produced material instead. The Beeb becomes the third foreign broadcaster kicked of the air in Russia: Russian authorities shut down many broadcasts of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America news programs last year.