Russia & CIS

Dmitry Kamenshik, the owner of Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, was arrested on Thursday as part of the investigation into the 2011 terrorist attack on the airport.

Barack Obama no longer considers Russia a weak country. The opinion expressed by the US president means that the US elite shares similar thoughts as well. Washington has failed to destroy Putin either on Ukrainian or Syrian fronts. Obama called the Russian army the world's second strongest army

Ukraine is set to prove in court that the $3 billion Russian loan Kiev failed to repay was a bribe, the Ukrinform news agency reported Thursday, citing Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin.

As Muscovites were recovering from the shock of the sudden demolition of street retail properties, the retail property market attempted to assess damages.

When Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took to the stage at the Munich security conference, he left no doubt as to who had sent him.

Counter-terrorism operations have been launched in three regions of Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan following a deadly car bombing on Monday, the Interfax news agency reported.

Huffing and puffing, half a dozen heavyset men in scratched helmets and battered protective gear sprint around, shouting buzzwords in heavily accented English.

Russian President Putin dismissed as "nonsensical" the European Union's naming the fulfillment of the Minsk peace deal on resolving the crisis in Ukraine as a condition for lifting sanctions against Moscow.

Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's pro-democracy foundation has received dozens of requests from members of Russia's main political parties to endorse them during an upcoming parliamentary election.

Moscow City Hall has approved a rally to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, opposition party member Konstantin Merzlikin told The Moscow Times on Wednesday.

A Moscow football club could face sanctions after a player brandished a t-shirt with an image of Russian president Vladimir Putin during a Champions League game in Turkey.

Georgia has dropped a proposed anti-blasphemy bill ardently opposed by freedom-of-speech activists. With a stated goal of protecting the feelings of Christian believers, the bill pitted civil liberties against faith.

Kazakhstan's parliament is pressing the government to get more money out of Russia for the rent it pays for its several military facilities, setting the stage for another negotiating battle.

Seven alleged members of the Islamic State in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg detained last week have been charged with planning terrorist activity, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday.

Moscow plans to appeal Interpol's refusal to place Mikhail Khodorkovsky - the exiled former oil tycoon turned political opposition figure - on an international wanted list, the Kommersant newspaper reported Wednesday.

The number of foreign tourists booking summer vacations in Russia has risen by 30 percent amid the weakening of the ruble, the Kommersant newspaper reported Wednesday.

An appeal by a Crimean leader for local residents to name their newborn sons "Generator" to protest power outages did not gain popular support - not a single boy born on the peninsula received that name.

Ukrainian officials said that the country needs to recognize the existence of war between Russia and Ukraine to gain the support of the international community. Calling Ukraine a country "governed by the rule of law", Kiev blocks the movement of Russian heavy trucks to EU. Ukraine needs to make "mobilization plans to get ready for war conditions

There is a question about Russia's pull out from the WTO. During three years of our membership in the WTO, the Russian budget has lost 800 billion rubles. Indirect losses are evaluated at four trillion. "We are open to dialogue and trade, but we do not want to play by someone else's rules," Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said

A growing number of Russian regions realize that tourist business, if properly organized, can be a good source of income. Belevsky pastille, Venevsky buns, Syzran tomatoes, Novgorod gingerbread, Arkhangelsk cod and many other delicious made-in-Russia products have been gaining popularity not only in Russia, but also abroad