Moscow, Dec. 6 : A Georgian woman has claimed that she is Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s real mother.

Vera Putina, 82, has claimed that Vladmir is the child she gave away at the age of ten, giving an account of an unhappy childhood, which is fiercely disputed by the Kremlin.

The Telegraph reports that Vera Putina lives hand-to-mouth in rural Georgia. Her house sits on a dirt track in the village of Metekhi, about 12 miles from Gori that was occupied by Russian tanks this August during the conflict over the breakaway state of South Ossetia.

A tiny woman, with gnarled worker''s hands, only Putina''s strong cheekbones and deep-set, piercing blue eyes are suggestive of who she claims she is.

MOSCOW, Dec. 4  -- Managers of upscale restaurants in Russia say they have begun adapting their menus to healthier and creative dishes in response to the economic crisis.

Dmitry Ivanov, the manager of Moscow's Riva restaurant, said his eatery has adopted an "Anti-Crisis Menu" oriented toward good food that helps maintain the spirit of the general population, The Moscow Times said Thursday.

"Our aim is to provide a fillip to the flagging Russian spirit in this uneasy period," Ivanov said. "We want our customers to eat well and to continue to feel good about themselves despite the economic crisis."

Moscow  - Despite international protests, Moscow Mayor Yuri Lushkov has forbidden all future gay rights demonstrations as "homosexual propaganda."

"Of course all democrats in the world will criticize us, but every society has its own point of view," Lushkov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying at a conference on the problems of HIV and AIDS in the former Soviet Union.

Moscow will prevent "homosexual propaganda even if some provincial democrats think that that association with sexual minorities are an important indicator of democracy," said Lushkov, who blamed homosexuals for the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The city has banned gay and lesbian parades in the past.

Moscow - Russia is canvassing hard for sponsors of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi despite the ongoing global financial crisis.

According to reports in the Kommersant newspaper, organizers are hopeful of securing a total income of around 2.13 billion dollars, but the figure has been described a unrealistic in some marketing quarters.

In November, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Jacques Rogge, dismissed claims that the figures were over ambitious but admitted that the Games in Sochi were "to a large degree" dependent on financial partnerships.

Moscow - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will hold on Thursday a nationally broadcasted question-and-answer session, a move which could be interpreted as a sign he plans to return to the presidential seat.

People all over Russia were able to put questions to the ex- president and majority of them focus on economic and social issues, local officials said.

While Putin was president, the broadcast became an annual tradition. He held six of these sessions. During his last televised session as president in October, he answered 72 questions in more than three hours.