PUTIN

Thousands of protesters gathered in Moscow and other Russian cities to denounce what they considered an unfair electoral victory Sunday by Vladimir Putin, who will return to his country's presidency in May.

The man who will soon cede the Russian presidency to his mentor has been promised the prime minister's job once the next Putin government is formed. But will the proposed swap happen once the new president is inaugurated in May?

Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, claimed a resounding victory with 64 percent of the vote in Russia's presidential election Sunday. He'll return to a third term as president, but opponents, citing alleged evidence of fraud, denounced the vote as illegitimate and vowed to continue their protests.

The former Yukos chief's lawyer says news that outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has told prosecutors to review the conviction may be simply a formal decision, not meaning anything, or it may be a signal from above that they have decided to close the Khodorkovsky and [Platon] Lebedev cases.

Vladimir Putin triumphed in Russia's presidential election on Sunday and, tears rolling down his cheeks, called his victory a turning point that had prevented the country falling into the hands of enemies.

Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, claimed a resounding victory with 64 percent of the vote in Russia's presidential election Sunday. He'll return to a third term as president, but opponents, citing alleged evidence of fraud, denounced the vote as illegitimate and vowed to continue their protests.

Vladimir Putin, the current prime minister and former president, is all set to win a third presidential term in the presidential elections Sunday. In the absence of strong opponents, the election is widely considered as a one-sided battle in favor of Putin.

Many Russians reportedly feel that there is no alternative to Putin in a vote that opponents say is skewed in his favour.

When the Soviet era political permafrost melted gradually over the ten years after the 1991 collapse of the red star, the relic -- the holy relic -- that emerged was Vladimir Putin, the successor chosen by Boris Yeltsin at the end of a senselessly chaotic decade.

The foreign ministry in Moscow even asserted it will not move to protect Assad and his regime in the event that the west and other Arab powers intervene militarily in Syria.

The former KGB-man spoke of how he was favored by a majority of Russians, with recent polls putting his popularity at around 60 percent.

Chevron executives met this week with Russian government representatives about possible oil exploration by the U.S. company in Russia's Arctic.

On the eve of presidential elections, Vladimir Putin is claiming that his opponents might use murder and ballot stuffing to tarnish the vote.

With less than a week until presidential elections in Russia, the validity of the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is being called into question.

The Russian prime minister's admonition comes despite reassurances from U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who said any foreign intervention could lead to a civil war in Syria.

Authorities in Ukraine arrested three men suspected in an assassination plot targeting Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, according to Russian state-owned Channel One television.

Syria is expected to announce a vote of approval for constitutional changes on Monday when it announces the result of a referendum dismissed as a sham by opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.

Thousands of Russians joined hands to form a human chain around the Moscow city center Sunday in protest against Vladimir Putin's likely return as president in the election next week.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will have no problem getting election to his third term as president, a state polling agency determined on Monday.

Keen to boost his notoriously bullish image, Putin said in a newspaper article that Russia would spend 23 trillion roubles ($770 billion) over a decade to modernize the former superpower's armed forces, warning of the need to protect the country from new regional and local wars sparked by foreign powers.

Vladimir Putin will be elected president in the first round of March's election with more than half the vote, avoiding a runoff that would dent his authority on the eve of his planned return to the Kremlin's top job, a state pollster predicted Monday.