Russia & CIS

As the year ends, where does Russia stand? How do Russians see key political issues, what do they spend their money on, how health-conscious are they? And how is the country seen by its neighbors?

European Athletics president Svein Arne Hansen does not expect Russia to return to international competition in time for next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Even as Russia's beleaguered NGOs were struggling to come to terms with the "foreign agents" label, a sweeping new law against "undesirable" organizations has dealt them yet another blow.

Russia is ready "to show flexibility" on the possible easing of sanctions imposed on Afghanistan's Taliban movement by the United Nations Security Council, TASS news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying.

The clockwork of war never stops. We need to know how the world works - if we know that, then we know how to deal with problems. Our ancestors knew that - that's why they did their best never to lose one single war. One should look through this prism at the events that are currently happening in Ukraine. Where is the truth?

The outgoing year in Russia generated a lot of very important political, economic and social news - much of which got transformed at coub.com, the Russian analogue of the short-form video service Vine.

A ship carrying more than 25,000 pounds (11,000 kg) of low-enriched uranium materials left Iran for Russia on Monday in an Iranian step toward honoring a July 14 nuclear deal.

Some of Vladimir Putin's saltiest one liners have been turned into a book by his supporters who have sent a batch to the Kremlin touting it as the ideal holiday gift for patriotic Russian officials.

Next year, Russia is holding elections to the State Duma. Today, there are many things in the political life of the country that seem so common that nobody tries to remember that four years ago these common things did not even exist. the Kremlin has formed a new institutional structure and design of the political system

Every Western expat seems to know someone who has left Russia. An economic slump and increasing political and cultural isolation have transformed an expat community.

Russia does not rule out phone contacts in the so-called "Normandy format" on the Ukraine crisis before the end of 2015, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

In 2015, a lot of smart people in Russia said a lot of smart things. But that's not what this is about. This is about statements that were so ignorant or outrageous, even cats couldn't help but react in horror.

The Taliban denied reports that representatives had met Russian officials to discuss the common threat from Islamic State in Afghanistan as a British newspaper reported that President Vladimir Putin had met the Taliban leader.

The head of the most powerful Syrian insurgent group in the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus was killed on Friday in a Russian air strike on the secret headquarters of his group, rebel sources said.

Russia's air force has made 5,240 sorties since it started the strikes in Syria on Sept. 30, including 189 sorties on Thursday alone, Russia's defense ministry told reporters on Friday.

Russia plans to build at least six new nuclear power units in India in the next 20 years, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

Russia's war plan worked better than envisioned. But it has yet to achieve the main goal: End Western sanctions.

The implementation of the ceasefire accords, aimed to resolve the Ukraine crisis and known as the Minsk 2 agreements, will drag into 2016.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused the head of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition party of treason on Thursday for using a trip to Moscow to condemn Ankara's shooting down of a Russian warplane over Syria.

Russia's interests coincide with the ones of the Afghan Taliban movement concerning fighting the Islamic State, Russia's Foreign Ministry department head Zamir Kabulov said Wednesday, the Interfax news agency reported.