Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych congratulated each other on the simultaneous ratification of a Russian naval base deal on Tuesday, the Kremlin's press service reported.

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund may visit Ukraine within the first two weeks of May to discuss a new loan program for the former Soviet state, Ukrainian Vice-Premier Sergei Tigipko said on Tuesday.

The Russian government will allow on Tuesday the import of 260,000 metric tons of steel pipes annually from Ukraine duty free, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

Officials in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi have voted to rename a street in honor of the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

The rent Russia pays for a newly extended lease on its Black Sea base in Ukraine is high but not overpriced, the Russian President said.

After almost 40 years of talks, Russia and Norway reached on Tuesday an agreement on the demarcation of their maritime borders in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said.

The former Ukrainian president and prime minister have expressed anger over the ratification on Tuesday of a naval base agreement with Russia.

The Ukrainian parliament has ratified the naval base deal with Russia amid brawls in the chamber and clashes outside parliament, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported on Tuesday.

The Russian State Duma has ratified an agreement extending Russia's lease on a naval base in Crimea for 25 years after the current deal expires in 2017.

Several lawmakers walked out of the Ukrainian parliament as a smoke bomb was thrown during hearings on ratifying a controversial naval base deal with Russia, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported on Tuesday.

A U.S. senator has urged U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to impose a ban on visas for 60 Russian officials and other individuals in a $230 million corruption case that lead to the death of a Moscow anti-corruption lawyer, the U.S. Helsinki Commission website said.

A Kyrgyz court on Monday authorized the arrest of former interior minister Moldomusa Kongantiyev on charges of power abuse, 24.kg news agency reported an interim deputy minister as saying.

Kongantiyev was flown to Manas airport near Bishkek on Monday after being detained in Moscow in a joint Kyrgyz-Russian operation.

Kongantiyev was apparently captured by protesters as he tried to appease a mass rally in the Kyrgyz city of Talas on April 6. He was later shown alive but beaten up in a television report. His subsequent location was unknown, with some media reporting that the ex-minister fled to Kazakhstan.

"The ex-minister is not accused of the murder of two or more people because, for obvious reasons, he was unable to give orders when peaceful protesters began to be shot at on the capital's central Ala-Too square," Azimbek Beknazarov said.

Large-scale anti-government protests swept Kyrgyzstan after the protests in Talas, claiming the lives of at least 80 people and leading to the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who has since taken refuge in Belarus.

RIA Novosti

Deposed Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been accused in absentia of organizing murders and abuse of power, interim Deputy Prime Minister Azimbek Beknazarov said on Tuesday.