Separatists flew the Russian flag on armored vehicles taken from the Ukrainian Army on Wednesday, humiliating a Kiev government operation to recapture eastern towns controlled by pro-Moscow partisans.

ISTANBUL — Turkey would consider allowing the South Stream pipeline, which will carry natural gas from Russia to Europe, to pass through Turkish territory if Moscow made such a request, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Wednesday.

Fraudsters have set up websites that falsely claim to be shortlisting questions for President Vladimir Putin's annual call-in show on Thursday in exchange for cash, Putin's spokesman said.

Russia is considering filing a lawsuit against the U.S. with the World Trade Organization, or WTO, over sanctions against Russian banks, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said.

Russia's Federation Council on Wednesday gave its blessing to legal changes that would require foreign citizens to prove their ability to speak Russian.

More than 300,000 documents from Russian military archives on World War I have been made available online, a senior archivist said Monday.

The Justice Ministry has ordered the Russian branch of American Councils, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that administers student exchanges and other educational programs, to cease its operations indefinitely.

The U.S. annexed Hawaii and Texas, so why can't Russia annex Crimea? Russia is living in the 19th century, pursuing its own manifest destiny.

Insulting slang words seem to go in and out of fashion — or maybe I go in and out of periods of noticing them. Lately it seems that the word ãîïíèê and its various derivatives are the new popular pejorative. I thought I knew what ãîïíèê meant but did some research to clarify, just in case.

Russian Armed Forces may replace the SS-18 Satan, the world's heaviest intercontinental ballistic missile, earlier than planned due to a standoff with Ukraine, where the missile was initially assembled and is serviced, defense experts said Thursday.