No people injured in blast in Nazran suburbs.

NAZRAN, December 25 (Itar-Tass) -- A blast went off at 9.35 p.m.
Moscow time on Friday in the suburbs of Nazran, Ingushetia. The incident
occurred at the Kommunalny residential area, a source in the republican
law enforcement agencies told Itar-Tass on Friday.
Unidentified offenders dropped an explosive device at a bus stop,
where two cars were parked, the source said. No one was injured in the
blast.
Law enforcers rushed to the incident site. The detectives assumed that
the handmade explosive device was made of many connected petards. The
detectives believe that the offenders did not seek to commit any crime.

.Catholic, Protestant Christians celebrate Christmas in Russia.

MOSCOW, December 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Catholic and Protestant Christian
communities hold Christmas Mass in Russia on Saturday night. Catholic
Archbishop in Moscow Paolo Pezzi leads a festive Christmas service at a
Catholic cathedral in Malaya Gruzinskaya Street in Moscow.
Christmas masses will be officiated in Russian and Polish languages in
turns. A Christmas service will be held in the Byzantine rite at a
Catholic cathedral in Novosibirsk.
The flock of Catholic cathedrals is people from Catholic countries.
They settled, work or study in Russia.
Over 250 Catholic communities and organizations work in Russia, the
Federal Registration Service reported.
On Friday, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill congratulated all
Christians, who celebrate Christmas on Saturday. "Today as never before
the humankind needs" Christian preaches, he noted. The patriarch urged "to
preach constantly about Christmas not only in words, but also in deeds,
annunciating the Kingdom of God."
The Protestant Christians and several Orthodox Christian Churches also
celebrate Christmas on the Gregorian calendar on Saturday. Along with the
Russian Orthodox Church Serbian, Jerusalem and Georgian Orthodox Churches
celebrate Christmas on January 7 under the Julian calendar.

.Gamekeeper killed by gunmen found in Kabardino-Balkaria.

NALCHIK, December 25 (Itar-Tass) -- A gamekeeper, who was killed by
gunmen not far from the city of Baksan on December 18, was found in
Kabardino-Balkaria, a source in the republican investigation department of
the Russian Investigation Committee told Itar-Tass on Friday.
"A gamekeeper Arsen Soblirov, 55, was found dead with gunshot wounds
on the outskirts of Kremenchug-Konstantinovskoye in the Baksan district of
Kabardino-Balkaria," the source said. "A handmade explosive device
exploded wounding severely a policeman in the search at the crime scene,"
he said.
Three gamekeepers were accompanying a group of seven hunters from the
Stavropol Territory. They ran into a dugout of gunmen in the forest not
far from the village of Atazhukino, three kilometres away from the
Caucasus federal highway in the morning on December 18. All seven hunters
were killed. The gunmen took Arsen Sablirov as a hostage and killed then.
Two gamekeepers managed to avoid murder. The bandits drove away from the
murder scene in two Niva jeeps hijacked from the killed hunters. The jeeps
were found.
A criminal case was instituted for murder of two and more people and
the illegal circulation of weapons. The investigation into the murder case
is underway.

.Ukraine, RF will delimitate maritime border in 2011 first quarter.

KIEV, December 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine and Russia "will find a
solution on delimitation of the maritime border" in the first quarter of
2011, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said in an interview with
three Ukrainian television channels on Friday.
"I am speaking about it for the first time. This problem, which has
not been solved for years, will be settled soon," the president said. "The
main problem in this issue is the Kerch Strait. The agreements on the
maritime border delimitation will be a very important event, because we
will establish a real border with Russia," Yanukovich added.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated recently that the two countries
are about to settle the problem of the maritime border delimitation. A
solution to this problem will be a compromise for Ukraine and Russia,
spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleg Voloshin said.
Alongside, the diplomat noted that the maritime border will be laid across
the Kerch Strait "east of the Tuzla Spit." "There are all reasons to
believe that we will complete successfully this process next year,"
Voloshin said.
Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement on the land border demarcation
in May 2010. However, the countries did not delimitate the sea areas,
particularly Black Sea and Azov Sea offshore shelves.
Ukraine earlier insisted on keeping the Soviet time border with Russia
across the Kerch Strait, but stated that the country is ready to reach a
compromise in economic issues.
-0-baz