VLADIMIR PUTIN

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he hoped for improved relations with the United States in 2010, days after his attack on U.S. missile defense plans displayed the fragility of efforts to draw closer.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday U.S. plans for a missile defense system were the main obstacle to reaching a new deal on reducing Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons.

A former policeman who accused senior officers of corruption in a series of video blogs will himself face prosecution for abuse of office, Russian investigators said on Monday.

Russia on Monday inaugurated a new oil export terminal at Kozmino port in its far east. Opening the terminal, Russian PM Vladimir Putin said, It is an important event for Russia and a strategic project, which enables us to enter the growing markets of the Asia-Pacific region.

Russia will work on a new generation of atomic weapons to strengthen its nuclear deterrent, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, just hours after Moscow test-fired one of its most feared missiles.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev failed to clinch a landmark pact cutting Cold War stocks of nuclear arms on Friday but pledged to keep working for a deal in the New Year.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday he saw no need for a new security treaty proposed by Russia, rebuffing the Kremlin's call for new defense arrangements in Europe.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked Russia on Wednesday to give the Western military alliance more help in Afghanistan but failed to get an immediate pledge of assistance from the Kremlin.

The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi issued his first public statement on Tuesday saying that love always defeats envy and hatred two days after he was attacked.

World leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as Pope Benedict XVI sent condolences on Monday to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who was attacked Sunday at a rally in Milan.

Flags flew at half mast and entertainment programs were canceled across Russia on Monday as the country mourned 112 victims of a weekend nightclub inferno and dozens more fought for their lives in hospitals.

The United States signaled on Thursday its patience with Iran was wearing thin, saying Tehran was rapidly approaching a December deadline to accept a U.N.-brokered nuclear deal with Western powers.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he would not leave Russian politics any time soon, telling a questioner asking about his departure: Do not hold your breath.

Debt in Dubai and the interplay of politics and IMF deals in Ukraine, Romania and Latvia provide the main political risks to regional emerging markets in December, while in Nigeria presidential health will be in focus.

World leaders expressed confidence in the global economic recovery on Friday despite fears about a debt default by Gulf emirate Dubai, while major banks played down their exposure to the debt.

President Dmitry Medvedev scolded leaders of Russia's ruling party on Saturday for bad political habits and ordered them to win future elections fairly.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday urged Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to change an agreement on supplies of Russian natural gas whose terms he said were too onerous for the Ukrainian economy.

The European Union's Swedish presidency urged Russia on Wednesday to do more to combat climate change and discussed Russian energy supplies to Europe, which could be threatened by a dispute with Ukraine.

President Dmitry Medvedev pledged on Thursday to disband Russia's inefficient state corporations, created by his predecessor Vladimir Putin, and called for a probe in to their use of state money.

Russia's pro-Western opposition on Thursday dismissed President Dmitry Medvedev's promises to reform the political system as empty and said they saw little prospect of an easing of Kremlin domination.

A former Russian policeman, who accused officers in his home town of corruption in blogs that had more than one million Internet hits, said on Tuesday he wanted to discuss the affair with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.