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.

For Asia, the most important consequence of the fall of the Berlin Wall was that the collapse of communism produced a shift from the primacy of military power to economic power in shaping the international order.

On the whole, the Kremlin has little to worry about since the threat from protests is very low, which may explain why the training that riot police received last week was focused on rounding up a bunch of frail pensioners.

In the eyes of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the “resetting” of U.S.-Russian relations became a reality only six weeks ago, when U.S. President Barack Obama announced his decision to reconfigure U.S. missile defense plans for Europe.

When Anton Sikharulidze, the former figure skater and current United Russia member, was asked why he awarded low marks to a pair of figure skaters who had just given a touching portrayal of lovers who reunite during the fall of the Berlin Wall.

People have long ceased to be amazed by the fact that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has a habit of meddling in Russia’s military affairs, national security and foreign policy — all of which belong to the constitutional domain of President Dmitry Medvedev.

Are the free media like Kommersant and Ekho Moskvy radio really free or only purposely tolerated to let the intelligentsia blow off steam?

In a country where the patriarch has become an increasingly potent and unquestionable figure, criticism of the religious establishment is a fast track to pariah status.

Russia, whose influence extends to Europe, Central Asia, the Far East and the Arctic, is much more than a just a ‘regional power.’

There is a rich Soviet history of crude anti-NATO propaganda. Unfortunately, this Krokodil-like depiction continues today.