Russia's dispute with Japan over the islands, which the latter considers its territory, has hampered trade ties between the two nations.
Russian emigration has created a vibrant Russian community in London that is also a center of opposition to the Kremlin.
Syrian troops were fighting on the outskirts of the ancient city of Palmyra hoping for a key victory against the Islamic State group.
The Chinese president will meet with President Barack Obama next week on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in Washington.
Oil and gas companies have canceled $100 billion in investments, meaning they could struggle if supplies significantly drop.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will ultimately decide whether to participate in a prisoner exchange with Ukraine.
Since ISIS came to prominence in Syria and Iraq over the last 21 months, it has raised billions in oil revenues and traded for weapons on the border.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Moscow Wednesday that there have been violations of the ceasefire brokered last year.
The move comes after budget airliner Flydubai's jet crashed last week in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all 62 people on board.
A Russian court convicted Nadezhda Savchenko of murdering two Russian journalists and gave her 22 years. Ukraine says she was framed.
Among Western European countries seeing their people leave to become foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria, Belgium has the highest number, per capita.
Amid an ongoing crisis, Russia has reportedly been struck by a new doping scandal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Washington has requested a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and John Kerry during the latter’s Moscow visit this week.
A plan to shutter five facilities would follow the closings of eight prisons last year.
Russia should examine whether flight safety rules need to be tightened after a Flydubai crash killed 62 people, the nation's prime minister said.
More than 3 million Russians became indigent in 2015, official statistics showed Monday, as the country deals with the oil slump and Western sanctions.
No one has taken responsibility for the attacks, which silenced seven of Sweden’s most prominent news organizations amid growing tension with Russia.
Moscow warned Monday it would begin the use of force against ceasefire violations in Syria unilaterally if the U.S. refuses to coordinate rules of engagement.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia is interested in Cuba maintaining good relations with all its neighbors, especially with the U.S.
Nadezhda Savchenko, who was captured by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine in June 2014, was charged with directing mortar fire that killed two Russian journalists.
News of the deployment surfaced one day after a U.S. soldier was killed by indirect fire in a rocket attack in northern Iraq.
Investigators have started their examination of what caused the crash of Flydubai flight FZ981, which killed all 62 people onboard.