Monday’s snowfall of at least 19 centimeters beat a 100-year-old record of 6 centimeters for Dec. 21.

Russia's participation in the World Food Program is expected to increase following visits to Moscow by the program's directors, a high-ranking source close to the negotiations told The Moscow Times.

An investment fund owned by Gennady Timchenko, an acquaintance of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is to boost its stake in Russia’s second-largest gas producer to 23 percent.

The Central Bank bought 30 metric tons of gold from state precious metals and gems depository Gokhran for about $1 billion.

There is little to celebrate as we reach the end of a year that will be remembered for an increase in corruption and bloody catastrophes.

Russia has long irked many in the 47-member Council of Europe by being the only country that has not ratified two amendments to the human rights convention.

Millions perished in Stalin's network of gulag camps scattered from Russia’s Arctic tundra to the inhospitable Kazakh steppe, and rights campaigners accuse the current Russian government of trying to whitewash the past.

The country’s earlier agreement to participate in Samsun-Ceyhan after years of skepticism about the project surprised analysts.

Khristenko told Vesti-24 television that the government was working on a second alliance after the partnership between the country’s largest automaker AvtoVAZ and French peer Renault.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said last year’s attack by Georgia on South Ossetia was part of a Western plot to seize the whole Caucasus region.