Russia asks India to pardon jailed tourist.

NEW DELHI, September 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian diplomats have
officially requested Indian authorities to pardon a Russian tourist who
was sentenced to one year in prison for expired visa.
Alexander Solomein was vacationing in Goa and arrested late in May
while attempting to leave India with an expired visa.
"We are rendering the necessary assistance to the Russian and we hope
our efforts will succeed and Solomein will be shortly released," Russian
Consul General in Mumbai Alexei Novikov told Tass on Thursday.
He said he had asked Goa governor to pardon Solomein.
The consul general said another Russian, Konstantin Novikov, who was
also jailed for expired visa in April, had been recently released.
"He was set free under the suretyship of a Russian diplomat," the
consul said.

.Russia hopes for positive Polish response to Katyn files handover.

MOSCOW, September 24 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian foreign ministry
expressed hope Poland would welcome the handover of another Katyn case
files and said the transfer of the documents "confirms transparency of the
work in the interests of Russia and Poland."
"We hope it will be appreciated in Poland," the ministry said.
On Thursday the office of the Russian Prosecutor General handed over
to Poland copies of another 20 volumes of the criminal case related to the
execution of Polish army officers in Katyn forest in 1940.
Back in 2005 Poland received 67 volumes of Katyn files and in 2009
requested additional documents.
The Katyn case files passed on Thursday "contain orders to execute
prisoners of war, lists of servicemen sent to the NKVD department in the
Kalinin Region (currently the Tver Region), protocols of interrogations
and other investigating actions, forensic examinations, funeral
certificates, medical records, death certificates, body handover notes,
certificates of conviction and other documents," the office of the
prosecutor general said.
"The work on Poland's request is in progress," it added.
The Katyn case was opened in Russia in March 1990. The investigation
lasted 14 years and ended in September 2004. Case files contain evidence
that in March 1940 the Soviet leadership ordered to execute Polish
prisoners of war. They were executed not only in Katyn, but also outside
Kharkov, Kalinin (currently Tver), as well as in western Ukraine and
western Belarus.
Over 4,400 executed Polish officers were buried in Katyn forest 18
kilometers west of Smolensk in April-May 1940. Each Polish officer was
identified. Soviet victims of political repressions are buried near Polish
officers at the memorial. About 10,000 people were executed there,
historians estimate.

.Russian neo-Nazi fighter arrested in Norway.

OSLO, September 24 (Itar-Tass) -- An Oslo court ruled late on Thursday
to arrest for four weeks Russian neo-Nazi mixed martial arms champion
Vyacheslav Datsik who surrendered to immigration officials and requested
political asylum.
He will spend the first two weeks in an isolation cell while police
will investigate his case. Datsik surrendered a loaded handgun to
immigration officials. He appeared in court wearing a shirt with s
swastika and greeted those present with a Nazi salute.
Prosecutors said further investigation concerns more serious crimes
than illegal arms possession. So far no contact with Russian counterparts
has been established, Oslo police chief for organized crime Einar Aas said.
Datsik, also known as Tarzan the Redhead, is a prominent member of
the neo-Nazi Slavic Union organization which Russia declared unlawful. He
emerged in Norway after fleeing from a mental hospital near St. Petersburg
where he was sent by a court. Datsik was convicted for several robberies,
but a psychological examination deemed him insane.
On Tuesday Norwegian police detained another Russian and an Estonian
after raiding a tattoo salon in downtown Oslo. On Thursday a fourth
suspect was detained for illegal arms possession. A total of five pistols
and a rifle have been seized.
One of the detainees was also arrested by court for four weeks. The
fate of others will be decided in the coming days.

.China detains four Japanese nationals.

BEIJING, September 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Four Japanese nationals were
detained in the city of Shijiazhuang in China's Hebei Province for
allegedly entering a military zone without authorization and videotaping
military targets, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing said Friday.
China had informed Japan it is questioning the four who were
identified as employees of Japanese construction company Fujita Corp. by
the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
They were near the scene to prepare for bidding on a project to
dispose of chemical weapons abandoned in China by the Japanese military at
the end of World War II, Kyodo News said quoting a source familiar with
Japan-China relations.
According to Fujita, two of the people were on a business trip while
the other two were employed by a local subsidiary. The company said the
four had been visiting Hebei Province since Monday.
Kyodo said China may use the situation to further pressure Japan to
free a Chinese fishing boat captain detained over a ship collision near
the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
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