The Moscow Times

Four Russian motorcycle tourists who spent five days in an Iraqi jail after entering the Middle Eastern country without valid visas have been released.

This week, the Eurovision Song Contest is being held in Baku with all its usual deadly seriousness and an incongruous dose of Caspian glamour.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday defended a bill introducing fines of $30,000 or more for people who organize or participate in unauthorized rallies.

A day after the formation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s government, seven ministers who did not make the cut have resurfaced as senior staff in President Vladimir Putin’s administration.

Six people have been convicted for taking part in deadly labor riots in Kazakhstan that were seen as a major challenge to the authority of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

In the mid-1990s, former President Boris Yeltsin fought hard for the right to sit as equal at the same table with the leaders of the world's seven leading democracies. Using a lot of political wrangling, Moscow finally secured permanent membership in this elite club where the real heavyweights are supposed to solve the world's most pressing problems.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev insisted that the “reset” was still on during a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of a weekend G8 summit at Camp David.

If Putin was seen as getting too close to Obama at Camp David, it would have been a blow to his tough-guy image as someone who stands up to the United States. At a time when the protest movement is gaining momentum in Moscow and other cities, Putin could ill afford to be seen schmoozing with Obama — whose administration, in Putin's own words, serves as the opposition's main sponsor.

After days of speculation, riot police swooped in and dismantled the opposition's Occupy-style encampment in a central Moscow park early Wednesday morning, detaining more than 20 exhausted activists and hustling the others into a nearby metro station.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia did not uphold the rights of a conscript who died after being shot by a fellow soldier.

In an attempt to deflect criticism against crackdowns on political protests at home, senior Russian officials on Monday shot back at Western critics, lambasting racism and xenophobia in Europe.

Socialite and opposition figure Kseniya Sobchak has accused a woman of falsely claiming to be a fed-up resident of the Chistiye Prudy neighborhood where protesters have spent several days in an interview with state-owned television station Channel One.

Outspoken U.S. Senator John McCain has criticized President Vladimir Putin for a recent crackdown on protesters, as well as for oligarchy, corruption and activities in the Baltics and Ukraine.

Thirty-seven individuals are now on trial in Kazakhstan's western city of Aktau charged with organizing and participating in violent disturbances that left 14 people dead and scores injured in the oil town of Zhanaozen in December. These tragic events were sparked by a long-standing dispute between oil company Ozenmunaigaz in Zhanaozen and some of its former workers.

Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko was moved to a local hospital in a high-security police convoy Wednesday, a day after the controversy over her imprisonment caused President Viktor Yanukovych to cancel a summit.