(Reuters) - Japan is closely monitoring stepped-up activity by Russia’s military near disputed islands, Japan’s chief spokesman said Thursday after Moscow said it would deploy new weapons to the area.

Three days ago the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent returned to Russia to resume his duties there after a period of secondment in London, where he had been working on the team assessing and organising WikiLeaks material. Half an hour after his...

Russia has condemned Ireland’s decision to send home a Russian diplomat from its Dublin embassy over alleged involvement in passport forgery as an “unfriendly act” and vowed a response to the expulsion.

A Russian government agency has registered the web address Putin-2012.rf in a sign that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin may run in the next presidential election, an Internet news agency reported. Russia’s Federal Bodyguard Service, tasked with...

A Russian pilot with the United Nations and African Union joint peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan was assaulted after his helicopter was hijacked on July 26, the UN said today. A militia group supported by Sudan’s government seized...

Russian nationalists in Crimea have burned Ukrainian history textbooks to protest what they say are distortions of the past by the administration of former President Viktor Yushchenko. The recent transfer of power in Kyiv has raised hope among Russian...

A visa-free system between Finland and Russia would have EU-wide implications. Visa-free travel between Finland and Russia may well become a reality – but on certain conditions. Finland wants Russia to remove the requirement for foreign travellers to...

Saturday’s fake report by a Georgian TV channel on an alleged Russian invasion and on killing the South Caucasus state’s president was part of an information war waged by Georgian authorities, Russia’s envoy to NATO said Sunday. The...

Yury Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow, told a conference on Monday that he would not allow a gay rights parade in the city and any unsanctioned efforts would face police power.

It’s been 20 years since Czechoslovakia’s young people initiated the overthrow of their communist government. Now, a sizable slice of the next generation isn’t happy with the political culture that their parents helped bring about. One group of...