News Highlights

People who attempt to “whitewash Nazism” will face fines and long prison sentences under legislation put forward Friday by Russia’s ruling party.

The Kremlin rights advisory body has asked prosecutors to check cable and satellite companies whether they violated the Constitution in dropping broadcasts of a liberal-leaning channel embroiled in a row over an opinion poll about World War II.

Russia won the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, beating out Austria and South Korea, with the help of a mysterious Russian businessman, Gafur Rakhimov, who U.S. authorities describe as a top organized crime boss and heroin kingpin currently under criminal indictment in Uzbekistan.

The high number of early deaths in Russia is mainly due to people drinking too much alcohol, particularly vodka, research suggests.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday it was not fair to blame Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government for delays in aid to civilians in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.

Russia has been accused by the US of breaching a key arms control treaty banning medium-range nuclear missiles.

The head of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group will visit Moscow next week, a Russian diplomatic source said Thursday.

Two suicide bombers who killed 34 people in the south Russian city of Volgograd have been identified as Islamist militants based in Dagestan.

A gay rights activist has said he will sue the flamboyant and outspoken star of Russia’s version of “Scrubs,” who has made headlines in recent weeks over a string of inflammatory homophobic statements.

The UK government is to give extra funding for gay rights campaigners in Russia amid growing concerns over the introduction of legislation outlawing the promotion of homosexuality.