Did they or didn't they? The week began with a story, sourced to European and U.S. officials, that Russia was withdrawing its experts from an Iranian nuclear reactor site. The Iranians had been slow to pay the Russians for their work, but the reported move came against a background of growing international pressure on Iran to drop its nuclear plans. But no sooner was the first story out than, perhaps predictably, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow was quoted as saying that both Iran and Russia were interested in seeing the reactor completely. You can toss a coin on this one now.

Did they or didn't they, part two. Kommersant reported thatUkrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was supposed to have traveled to Moscow Tuesday for a meeting, but the meeting was cancelled by Russian officials at the last minute. Asked for comment a Russian official told Kommersant, "What visit?" Toss a second coin now.

On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin ordered a special inquiry into three accidents that happened over the weekend. Nearly 200 people died in the three incidents: a plane crash, mine disaster and a retirement home fire.

Want a sign of how far the Russia economy has come since Perestroika? Russian energy giant Rosneft announced Tuesday that it is borrowing $22 billon--a record for a Russian company--from a group of foreign banks. It seems Rosneft wants to do a little shopping, like buy parts of the bankrupt oil company Yukos. Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley will be part of the banking group.

There were two other bits of Yukos news this week. On Tuesday, a Moscow court sided with Moscow city tax officials and ruled that PricewaterhouseCoopers had helped Yukos evade taxes. The American company could lose its license to operate in Russia as a result. And the former CEO of Yukos, one-time billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky was transferred to Moscow from a Siberian prison, possibly to face new charges. Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion.

And one other bit of news that will have a special ring for any prospective parents who are Harvard grads. The university and the Russian Orthodox Church reached a deal to return the bells of Harvard's Lowell house to the Russian monastery that sold them to Harvard more than 70 years ago. The Russian Church is having a replacement set of the Danilov Monastery bells made for Harvard in Russia. The bells left Russia after Stalin closed the monastery.