Croatia's EU accession talks have made considerable progress, and have entered their final stage, the EU-Croatia Stabilization and Association Council said during a meeting on Tuesday.

Underdevelopment of basic democratic institutions and corruption are prohibiting the growth of civil society in Russia, Russian Human Rights Council chief said on Tuesday.

Russia's Olympic Committee on Tuesday accepted the resignation of its head Leonid Tyagachev over the country's poor showing at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Russian business tycoon Viktor Vekselberg will coordinate a project to build a high-tech research and production hub, similar to the Silicon Valley in California, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian Communist Party are unhappy with their appointments to parliament and are threatening to withdraw from the parliamentary coalition, Ukrainian Delo newspaper said.

Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh will start a week-long visit to Russia on Tuesday, the president's spokesman said.

Bagapsh will discuss possible joint projects in defense and communications during his visit.

RIA Novosti

Ukraine's new leader Viktor Yanukovych will have to work hard to sell the idea of a gas consortium with Russia according to a poll published on the Ukrainian government's website on Tuesday.

The Vietnamese defense minister said on Tuesday that the current visit of his Russian counterpart to Vietnam would strengthen bilateral military ties, which have seen a significant improvement in the last few years.

Ukraine's new President Viktor Yanukovych expressed hope on Monday that his country could sign a new gas deal with Moscow during the upcoming visit of the Russian president to Ukraine.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved on Tuesday the dismissal of Deputy Regional Development Minister Sergei Kruglik for failing to cut construction costs, a government statement said.

Amnesty International has called on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to pass an immediate moratorium on the death penalty after it became known that two men were executed in Minsk last week.