That was what people such as Mr Cohen, and his Muscovite counterparts, instinctively felt.

ECONOMIST: Observing Russia

However, 75-year-old Mr Luzhkov stressed that he remained a Muscovite and would return to face the investigators.

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Despite Saudi efforts, their Muscovite counterparts were simply in no fit state to help moderate prices across non-OPEC production.

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In the Muscovite camp, rumours were rife that Patriarch Bartholomew was about to recognise unilaterally an independent Ukrainian church, causing an almost irreparable breach between Moscow and Constantinople.

ECONOMIST: Orthodox Christianity

Only promoted from the second tier seven years ago, the one consistent element in Rubin's rise to break the Muscovite monopoly has been manager Kurban Berdyev, a devout Muslim, who was born in Turkmenistan.

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The news will likely be greeted by staff with the same sort of enthusiasm with which soccer clubs have greeted their wealthy new Muscovite owners, not least because the paper has been hemorrhaging money for several years.

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The crowd were behind the wild card, who is a three-time champion in Paris, throughout the match and, after a hug from Del Potro across the net, a host of Safin's current and former rivals came out on court to pay tribute to the Muscovite.

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