While the rest of the world is commemorating the 20th-year anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain, Russia is left wondering why it has so little to celebrate.

Russia had been hoping that closer ties with Opel would help reinvigorate its own flailing car industry, which currently requires huge levels of state support just to maintain operations.

Alexander Shlyakhturov, who in April took over command of the military’s Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, said the situation was strained and accused NATO countries of continuing to supply arms to Georgia.

The looming change stirred fears Thursday about a crackdown on free speech on the country's No. 1 search engine.

Kalmanovich, 60, was gunned down in central Moscow on Monday in an apparent contract hit that authorities said might be connected to a debt deal gone bad or an ongoing gangster turf war.

The suspected gunman, Nikita Tikhonov, has the same name as a man accused by Markelov in a hate murder three years earlier.

Finance Minister Kudrin meets with investors about a proposed $17.8 billion bond placement, but participants say more details are needed.

Georgian media reports say the project will involve a number of high-profile Russian journalists known for their criticism of the Russian leadership.

Today if you want to describe a spendthrift, you might use the word транжира, а noun derived from the verb транжирить (to spend wastefully), which came to Russian from the French.