Russia seeks to play sanctions tit for tat
MOSCOW — The Russian Parliament on Wednesday took the first major step to authorize the Kremlin to seize foreign assets and use them to compensate individuals and businesses being hurt by Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
Militants defy Ukrainian site occupation deadline
SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — A deadline set by the Ukrainian government for pro-Russian militants in the country’s east to vacate occupied buildings passed Monday without signs of an effort to enforce it.
Last shipment of nuclear fuel from Russian bombs departs
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — The final shipment of civilian nuclear reactor fuel made from Soviet atomic bombs left port for the United States on Thursday, ending a post-Cold War program that has been a long-running boon for the American nuclear power industry.
Attack leads to peek inside Viagra spam enterprise
MOSCOW — For years, Igor A. Artimovich had been living in a three-room apartment he shared with his wife in St. Petersburg, sitting for long hours in front of his Lenovo laptop in his pajamas, drinking sugary coffee.
For Putin, report says, state perks pile high, set him among wealthiest
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin is rumored to be among the world’s wealthiest men, with an oil-greased fortune worth tens of billions of dollars. He denies that, vehemently, but a report to be published Tuesday suggests that the dispute may be beside the point.
Weapon caused spacecraft’s failure?
MOSCOW — A Russian scientific spacecraft whizzing out of control around the Earth, and expected to re-enter the atmosphere on Saturday, may have failed because it was struck by some type of anti-satellite weapon, the director of Russia’s space agency said in an interview published Tuesday.
Kyrgyzstan’s president departs, and security forces begin to make arrests
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — The deposed president of Kyrgyzstan resigned and left the country for neighboring Kazakhstan on Thursday under an agreement brokered by Russia, regional leaders and the Obama administration. Within hours, security forces swooped in to arrest one of his brothers and a political ally.
Russia-German Pipeline Sparks Fears in Eastern Europe
With an ambitious new pipeline planned to run along the bed of the Baltic Sea, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is driving a political wedge between Eastern and Western Europe.
Russia Cuts Gas And Europe Shivers
Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, halted nearly all its natural gas exports to Europe on Tuesday, sharply escalating its pricing dispute with neighboring Ukraine. The cutoff led to immediate shortages from France to Turkey and underscored Moscow’s increasingly confrontational posture toward the West.
Markets React to Russia’s Recognition of Separatists
The effects of Russia’s first foreign war as a capitalist country rippled Tuesday through the Moscow stock markets, which dipped to their lowest level since 2006. The loss of billions of dollars in paper value is confronting the Kremlin with a dimension to its geopolitical posturing that never existed during the Cold War, even as Russia seemed to be consolidating its gains after the Georgia conflict.
Contractors Injure Three Iraqis Protecting American Employees
A man lost his eye and two other people were wounded when private security contractors fired into a crowded taxi as it approached their convoy of sport utility vehicles in northern Iraq on Thursday.
Suicide Bomber Kills 16, Wounds 28 During Iraqi Reconciliation Meeting
A suicide bomber blew himself up Monday at a banquet intended to be a reconciliation feast between provincial officials and former Sunni insurgents in Diyala province, killing 16 people and wounding at least 28.