News Highlights

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s decision to cancel Iran’s invitation to this week’s peace talks on Syria was a mistake.

The US military said on Monday that air and naval assets, including two ships in the Black Sea, would be made available to help Russia combat any possible terrorist attacks on the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Senegal has released a Russian trawler detained more than two weeks ago on suspicion of illegal fishing, the ship’s owner told Prime news agency Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was too early to speak on whether he would run for his fourth term in 2018, but clinging to power by all means would be unwise.

Russian President Vladimir Putin defended Russia’s anti-gay law Sunday, linking homosexuality with pedophilia and stating Russia needs to “cleanse” itself of gays if it wants to increase its birth rate.

An Islamic militant group said in a video posted online that it was behind two suicide bombings that killed at least 34 people last month in the Russian city of Volgograd, and threatened to attack the Sochi Winter Olympics.

The Russian trawler detained by Senegal is expected to be released Monday, the ship’s owner told RIA Novosti.

US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden may have collaborated with Russia, the chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee has alleged.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was unaware of any instances of corruption during the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi and the costs were possibly driven up by contractors.

Less than three weeks before the Sochi Olympic Games are set to begin, U.S. lawmakers and other officials have begun publicly airing their concerns that Russia will not be able to adequately protect athletes and spectators against security threats in the region.