News Highlights

An outspoken Russian lawmaker has labeled a resolution by Council of Europe lawmakers on unrest in Ukraine as an attempt to damage Russia.

Russia’s central bank has pledged “unlimited” intervention to maintain the strength of the rouble as emerging markets continued to come under pressure from the Federal Reserve’s withdrawal of stimulus.

Anti-gay propaganda legislation introduced in Russia last year has been used for the first time against media with the fining of a newspaper editor who reported about a school teacher allegedly fired because he was gay.

British Prime Minister David Cameron will not attend next month’s Winter Olympics in Russia, his spokesman said on Wednesday, adding his schedule meant it was not possible and that British leaders did not usually go to the event.

Sweden’s decision to auction off the office of the Russian Trade Mission in Stockholm next month is illegitimate and would severely damage bilateral ties, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

Russian membership in the European Union within 30 years would benefit both sides by combining the trading bloc’s diversified economy with its eastern neighbor’s energy resources, Czech President Milos Zeman said.

Russia’s upper house of parliament on Wednesday called for an end to what it has called interference by Western politicians in the internal affairs of Ukraine.

“Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a recent keynote speech.

Global postal company DHL said Wednesday that it is planning to resume deliveries to Russia after reaching an agreement with customs officials, the Prime business news agency reported.

Inspections of Russia’s defense industry have uncovered “a huge number of violations of federal law,” and the country must move to tighten oversight of military procurements, the prosecutor general said Wednesday.