Russia and Iran are helping Syria import fuel, which it needs for heavy vehicles including army tanks, allowing Damascus to avoid the full impact of tightening Western sanctions imposed over its violent suppression of dissent. Russia and Iran are helping Syria import fuel, which...

Syria is facing a halt in imports of diesel needed to power heavy vehicles including army tanks, as a stream of shipments from Russia and other sources has dried up over the past four weeks. LONDON —...

A Russian cargo ship loaded with weapons is en route to Syria and was due to arrive at a Syrian port over the weekend, Al Arabiya television said in a report that Western diplomats in New York described as credible. UNITED NATIONS — A Russian cargo ship loaded with weapons...

UNITED NATIONS — There continue to be problems in Syria, but an unarmed UN observer mission is deploying and the overall situation there is improving, Russia's UN ambasador said. "Things are moving on in a positive direction. Many obstacles, but I think they can be overcome," Vitaly Churkin...

Kosovo's Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj has voiced strong support for Syria's opposition, saying his government had already established diplomatic contacts with Syrians fighting to oust President Bashar Assad. UNITED NATIONS — Kosovo's Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj has voiced strong support for Syria's opposition...

Russia said Wednesday that a spillover of Syria's conflict into Lebanon could "end very badly" and suggested some Western states were playing a double game by calling for peace but supporting rebels seeking President Bashar Assad's ouster. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Western...

Embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad will be hoping that third time's the charm after a visit from the head of the International Chess Federation and alien-spotter Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad will be hoping that third time's the charm after a visit from the head of the International Chess Federation and alien-spotter Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The former leader of the Kalmykia republic famously dropped by Saddam Hussein's Baghdad on the eve of...

Vladimir Putin will visit Israel next month in one of his first foreign visits as president, with Syria and Iran almost certain to lead his agenda. Vladimir Putin will visit Israel next month in one of his first foreign visits as president, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said. "The information we have received from Russia shows...

... position on a number of foreign policy and bilateral relations. Medvedev also spoke generally about the G8 summit, saying that besides discussions on nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, support of Afghanistan’s economy and the conflict in Syria, the meeting focused on world economics, with special attention placed on the situation in Greece. He said the G8 members had reached a consensus that its exit from the euro zone was impermissible. “[The] Russian prime minister noted that...

... permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, participates in these talks, and its cooperation is essential to resolving one of today's most vexing international problems. Much the same can be said of Russia's role in resolving the crisis in Syria, owing to the strategic relationship that the two countries have maintained since the Cold War. Indeed, with the growing possibility that former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's peace plan for Syria might fail and that civil war might erupt, Russia...

... touched on policy around the world, but it served as a message to the United States ahead of Putin's expected meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, who hosts a Group of Eight summit later this month. In a warning that encompassed both Russia and Syria, where Moscow and Washington have deep differences, Putin's decree said Moscow would "counter attempts to use human rights concepts as an instrument of political pressure and interference in the internal affairs of states." In the Middle...

... wealth funds. "The pipeline of potential deals for this fund includes industries such as forestry, machinery [and] logistics," Dmitriyev said. (Reuters, Interfax) China and Russia agree entirely with each other's positions on the crisis in Syria and on North Korea's nuclear program, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said Saturday in Moscow, Reuters reported. "The sides hold 100 percent coinciding positions on the issues of North Korea and Syria ," Cheng, who was accompanying...

...." One topic sure to come up in Armenia and Azerbaijan is their conflict over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Clinton ends her trip in Istanbul on June 7, speaking at a counterterrorism forum and holding talks with Turkish officials on Syria. (Reuters)

... military cemetery. The Telegraph said Khodorkovsky's move was timed to coincide with the visit of British Foreign Secretary William Hague to Russia on Monday, where the diplomat is expected to speak on the issue of democracy during a trip focused on Syria and Iran. 179742

... the police to use brutal force, Putin has entered a dangerous realm. After all, violent tactics against protesters led to the collapse of governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya in the past 16 months and has sowed instability in other countries like Syria. Thankfully, Putin's government has not crossed this line by permitting the killing of protesters. But with this week's clashes, Putin has opened the door to an escalation in violence. To be sure, the OMON riot police were not dealing with a herd...

... of the countries’ relationship bear fruit, but Putin acted like he wasn’t interested in it, McCain said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro on Wednesday. McCain, for one, criticized Russia over its position on the conflict in Syria, as Russia cooperated with China earlier this year to block a UN Security Council resolution that would have urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to give up power. McCain echoed the thoughts of Anders Åslund, a senior fellow at the Peterson...