VLADIMIR PUTIN

Turkish jet fighters intercepted a Syrian passenger airplane on Wednesday night, which they claim had weapons on board.

Nearly two months after Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich and two of her bandmates were sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism, Samutsevich has been released from the Moscow prison, though the two other Pussy Riot members remain behind bars.

A member of punk band Pussy Riot was freed on appeal on Wednesday but a Moscow court upheld prison sentences for two others imposed over a raucous cathedral protest against Vladimir Putin, who said they had got the jail terms they deserved.

“It’s clear that the risk of conflict in the [Middle East] region is higher now than when the president took office,” Romney said.

Russia will continue to have a military presence in Tajikistan after both countries agreed Friday to extend the lease on a Soviet-era base.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Thursday criticized the U.S. drone policy in Pakistan while extending full support to Islamabad’s stance on the attacks.

Russia has many motives to keep supporting Syria's dictator -- e.g., arms contracts, naval base access -- but energy is the real reason.

Georgia’s parliamentary election on Monday, between parties led by President Mikhail Saakashvili and Bidzina Ivanishvili, comes to a close amid premature results projections.

A Russian court paved the way for a potential closure of video-sharing website YouTube by banning an anti-Islam video on Monday that sparked violent protests across the Muslim world.

Tickets are not being sold for the popular musical "Jesus Christ Superstar," whose production in Russia could be at risk after the tension that's been rising since the Pussy Riot controversy.

The Russian Orthodox Church, hinting at leniency, urged Pussy Riot to repent Sunday, on the eve of an appeals court ruling on the band’s sentences for performing an anti-Putin song in a Moscow cathedral.

Russian President Vladimir Putin shared his love of animals by giving a terrier puppy to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a diplomatic present.

Billionaire Alexander Lebedev has been charged with hooliganism in Russia after punching another man in the face on television last year.

Russia has one of the world's highest rates of alcoholism and road accidents caused by booze.

Our leaders do this from time to time -- convince themselves they can change the ways of an authoritarian ruler and, through a mix of logic, sweet talk, and carrots, convince him to do what we’d like.

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Mitt Romney Tuesday for rating Moscow as the United States' "number one geopolitical foe."

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement at the opening of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Summit in Vladivostok, Russia on Sunday.

Two bombs exploded near army compounds in the Syrian city of Aleppo Sunday night, killing more than 20 people and injuring around 60 of President Bashar al-Assad's forces and residents.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that his priority in Syria is to end the violence, but accuses rebel supporters of pursing a 'dangerous and short-sighted policy.'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was "mistaken" in an interview aired Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir V Putin pulled off his latest feat, helping a flock of critically endangered Siberian white cranes in their migration trip to Asia on Wednesday. Putin piloted a motorized hang glider in Siberian skies guiding a flock of the migratory cranes.