VLADIMIR PUTIN

Among the flurry of decrees Vladimir Putin issued after returning to the presidency for a historic third term were calls for faster privatization and government-sponsored boost in capital investment and closer ties with the US, based on equality, non-interference in internal affairs and respect for one another's interests.

Italy's Eni and Russia's Rosneft announced on Wednesday a joint venture to search for oil and gas in the Russian Arctic, following a similar pact between ExxonMobil and the state-run oil firm.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that he will step down as the leader of United Russia, the nation's dominant political party, after he assumes the presidency in May.

World leaders sharpened their condemnations of the bloodshed in Syria on Thursday, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging the United Nations to adopt a resolution similar to the one that enabled the NATO operation in Libya.

Cherry-picking a mere 100 people from across the world and from across all walks of life and getting everyone to agree to it is practically impossible.

Stock index futures advanced on Monday ahead of retail sales data, indicating the S&P 500 may climb after suffering its worst weekly decline of the year.

Former KGB chief Leonid Tibilov was named the president of South Ossetia, a breakaway republic within the nation of Georgia, on Sunday.

Moscow trendsetters look set for a gloomy and conservative autumn/winter 2012/13 season if Russian Fashion Week has been any judge of the trends for menswear and womenswear.

It seems like Russia might be moving the world closer to a zombie apocalypse. Last week Anatoly Serdyukov, Russian defense minister, announced plans for a new electromagnetic weapon. Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Russia has been working on mind-bending psychotronic guns that can effectively turn people into zombies.

In an effort to keep Russia-Chechnya conflicts from erupting on British soil, U.K. intelligence is pushing for the deportation of a Chechen man who was allegedly planning to assassinate Akhmed Zakayev, a political rival of Chechnya's President Ramzan Kadyrov.

Russian authorities closed Moscow's Red Square Sunday and detained dozens of people trying to hold a silent anti-government protest there, prompting opposition charges that they were denying Russians their right to free assembly.

In a hilarious new ad by Karl Rove linked group American Crossroads, President Obama is portrayed as a rogue James Bond type character and possible Russian double agent whose main mission is to weaken America.

Bulgaria cites a lack of funding for not pursuing a planned nuclear power plant at Belene

Within three years, the combined GDP of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is forecast to exceed that of the United States. China is expected to become the world's No. 1 economy by 2027.

An open mic oversight ended in embarrassment for Obama and Medvedev. What 'missile defense' issue were they discussing?

Every once in a while, the media gets a taste of off-the-cuff interactions between world leaders because a microphone is left on.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev extended complete support to the UN-Arab League envoy in Syria, saying that Kofi Annan's resolution represented the last chance for preventing the violent insurgency from turning into a civil war. Medvedev's strong message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad came close on the heels of US President Barack Obama announcing his plans to send non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition.

Obama holds out prospect of cuts in US nuclear arsenal as he tries to rally world leaders against threat of nuclear terrorism.

Madonna has vowed to defy the new St. Petersburg law against homosexual propaganda on her upcoming concert in President-elect Vladimir Putin's hometown in Russia in August.

Its unique position straddling Europe and Asia and a tumultuous history tell only part of the story of why Russia faces an unprecedented challenge for an industrialized country.

Putin, now Russia's president-elect, has said he would boycott the Group of Eight summit at Camp David and the NATO conference in Chicago this spring if U.S. missile defense plans weren't scrapped.