VLADIMIR PUTIN

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.

Friday's verdict in favor of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich closes a case that has brought to (some) light the shady underworld of Russian capitalism during the 1990s.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is hitting the road again, this time to the South Pacific and Asia. What is she going to do in the remote Cook islands, where none of her predecessors ever stopped?

The highest court in the Ukraine on Wednesday struck down former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko's appeal on her seven-year prison sentence.

Two members of the Russian all-girl punk band Pussy Riot have fled the country, according to a Twitter statement from the group on Sunday.

Russian punk band Pussy Riot released a new song lambasting Russian President Vladimir Putin after being found guilty and sentenced to two years in jail on charges of ?hooliganism driven by religious hatred.? Authorities are searching for the band?s remaining members while outraged bold-faced names continued to voice their support for the group.

Three female members of Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot were convicted of hooliganism on Friday "based on motives of religious hatred and enmity," according to Judge Marina Syrova in Moscow. The trial was one of the most hotly debated Russian trials in recent years. Syrova is withholding sentences for the three women until later Friday, but state prosecutors, not to mention Russian President Vladimir Putin, have asked for a three-year prison sentence. The maximum sentence, under Russ...

Sir Paul McCartney has thrown his substantial artistic credibility behind Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot, joining a long list of musicians vocally supporting the band as it stands trial for staging an anti-Putin protest in Moscow.

Clearly, the Material Girl hasn't lost her flair for controversy, and this year she seems determined to pack a lifetime of it into one summer. But are all those headlines paying off for the notably shrewd pop star? That depends on how you measure "paying off."

If hundreds and hundreds of teddy bears can't bring down Europe's last dictatorship, what can?

Russian opposition activist Aleksei Navalny has been charged with embezzlement by the Kremlin?s State Investigative Committee.

"This is not only damaging us but the whole [Russian] judicial system. It's a disgrace," one of Pussy Riot's lawyers, Nikolai Polozov, commented at the start of the trial on Monday.

Tanks and helicopters pounded a rebel stronghold in the Syrian city of Aleppo Saturday, signaling the start of a government offensive, as the opposition and international envoy Kofi Annan warned the international community of dire consequences.

The Arab League has offered a safe exit for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family if he quickly resigns and leaves the country, in the latest attempt from the international community to end 17 months of bloodshed in Syria.