June 2, 2006: A new terrorist "Spring offensive" was feared in Chechnya, but except for a few attacks, has not materialized.
June 1, 2006: Because there are so many Mil type Russian helicopters operating in African and Latin America, Russian firms are establishing maintenance and repair depots in those two regions. The African depot will be in Sudan, the location of the Latin American one has not been selected yet. These overseas maintenance operations will make it easier, faster and cheaper to get Russian helicopters serviced, upgraded or repaired. The Russian helicopters are favored in their regions because of low cost and robustness.
May 31, 2006: Capitalizing on the fact that Canada already leases Russian air transports to deliver supplies to relief and peacekeeping efforts, and that Canadian troops and relief workers regularly travel in Russian helicopters, Russia is making a serious sales pitch to the Canadian government. The Canadians are shopping around for new air transports and helicopters.
May 27, 2006: The Russian SSBN Yekaterinburg used one of its missiles to put a small scientific satellite into orbit. The launch was carried out like a combat operation, while the sub was submerged. Both the US and Russia are working on this technique for putting up satellites, but the Russians are clearly in the lead here.
