Russia will stonewall any UN sanctions on Syria and will push for a quick start to talks between the Syrian government and the country's opposition. Russia will stonewall any UN sanctions on Syria and will push for a quick start to talks between...

Western and Arab countries responded with outrage on Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to give up power. UNITED NATIONS — Western and Arab countries responded with outrage Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution...

... League plan floated last month. Syria is Russia's last remaining ally in the Middle East, and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday that his government will thwart any attempts by the West and major Arab powers to oust Assad by using a UN resolution. "If our foreign partners don't understand that, we will have to use strong means again and again to call them back to reality," he was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass. On Friday, Russian lawmakers also supported shielding Assad's...

A senior Russian diplomat said Tuesday that the push to adopt a Western-Arab draft UN Security Council resolution on Syria would lead the country down a “path to civil war.” A senior Russian diplomat said Tuesday that the push to adopt a Western-Arab draft UN Security Council resolution on Syria would lead the country down a “path...

... it has nothing to lose from backing Assad, it has nothing to gain from switching course and supporting the opposition. "Russia has crossed the Rubicon," said Igor Korotchenko, head of the Center for Analysis of Global Weapons Trade. The UN estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed since the uprising began in March. "Russia will be seen as the dictator's ally. If Assad's regime is driven from power, it will mean an end to Russia's presence," said Fyodor Lukyanov...

Russia is considering withdrawing its military helicopters servicing the UN peacekeeping force in South Sudan after voicing alarm at attacks on Russian personnel there. UNITED NATIONS — Russia is considering withdrawing its military helicopters servicing the UN peacekeeping force in South Sudan after...

... stop." Russia has long walked a fine line on the Iranian nuclear crisis, mixing careful criticism of an important trading partner with calls for more talks. Although Moscow, which built Iran's first nuclear power plant, has backed some previous UN sanctions, it has recently rejected new ones. Lavrov predicted that a military attack on Iran would send refugees streaming into Azerbaijan and further on to Russia. He said sanctions on Iranian oil are simply "aimed at stifling the Iranian economy...

Russia and China, the two countries that vetoed a UN Security Council resolution addressing ongoing violence in Syria, are now weighing an Arab League proposal to station peacekeepers there. Russia and China, the two countries that vetoed a UN Security Council resolution addressing ongoing...

Russia has circulated a revised UN Security Council resolution on the violence in Syria, but Western diplomats said it fell short of their demand for strong condemnation of President Bashar Assad's crackdown on civilians. UNITED NATIONS — Russia has circulated a revised UN Security...

... contracts worth up to $6 billion and help Moscow reach a record defense export year, according to the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, or CAST. Moscow has been Assad’s main defender as Western and Arab countries push for a UN Security Council resolution that would call for Assad to step down. A veto-wielding permanent member, Russia has already criticized the resolution saying it will lead to civil war. Having lost tens of billions of dollars in arms contracts with Libya...

... Assad's brutal "killing machine." This narrative expects independent great powers like Russia to deny the obvious reality that an armed insurrection aided by foreign powers is plunging Syria into greater turmoil. Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, repeatedly criticized the lack of "balance" and the "one-sided" nature of the Security Council resolution. His language needs to be carefully understood. The Arab League's member states baying for Assad's downfall...

... by sending weapons to opponents of President Bashar Assad. Russia said Friday that the West is stoking the conflict in Syria by sending weapons to opponents of President Bashar Assad. In an attempt to deflect criticism of Russia for blocking a UN Security Council resolution urging Assad to give up power, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Western states were stirring up trouble in Syria, where Assad has pursued a violent crackdown since March on protests against his 11-year rule. ...

... and anti-government bots splashed criticism and expressions of gratitude across the Russian Internet, and Syrian hackers attempted to commandeer the website of a Russian embassy. The attacks are a response to Russia's ongoing resistance to proposed UN sanctions against Damascus and willingness to sell weapons to the Syrian government, which has been accused of killing thousands of civilians to stem a popular uprising that began in March. On Sunday, the Syrian National Council, the main opposition...

Western anger at Moscow's decision to block a UN resolution on Syria has approached hysteria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it a travesty. Western anger at Moscow's decision to block a UN resolution...

... Russian religious leaders in Moscow as talk turned to Libya and Syria. 
"Help them, advise them, limit, for instance, their ability to use weapons but not interfere under any circumstances," Putin said, just days after Russia blocked a UN resolution calling for Syrian leader Bashar Assad to cede power. "A cult of violence has been coming to the fore in international affairs in the past decade," he said. "This cannot fail to cause concern, … and we must not allow...

... country's response to a civil revolt. Lavrov and foreign intelligence chief Mikhail Fradkov were given a royal welcome by thousands of pro-Assad supporters, who rallied in the streets waving Russian flags in thanks to Russia's veto over the weekend of a UN resolution calling for tough sanctions on the Syrian regime. Syrian state television declared that 1 million people came out to greet Lavrov. "Efforts to stop violence have to be met with dialogue by all the political forces," Lavrov said...

... point. Why give these speck-sized island countries anything at all? In September 2010, Georgia gave tiny Tuvalu $12,000 to cover the cost of "transportation of medical cargo" after Tuvalu voted for the Georgia-sponsored resolution at the UN General Assembly for the rights of refugees to return to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Cash-strapped Tuvalu returned the favor a year later by recognizing Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, among rumors of a Russian payoff. The Kremlin reportedly gave Nauru $50...

North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Un, supports an agreement to build a natural gas pipeline from Russia to South Korea via his communist state. North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Un, supports an agreement to build a natural gas pipeline from Russia to South...

... Moscow spent the whole week heroically fighting the anti-Syrian tide in the United Nations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov mustered all his strength to resist the attempt by his Western foes to introduce an Arab League resolution on Syria to the UN Security Council. That prompted the foreign ministers of leading Western states to fly to New York to convince Lavrov of the importance of passing the resolution. Not only did they fail to persuade Lavrov, but he refused to meet with them. Even U.S...

... pipeline routes as well as developing new energy sources. They say Eastern Europe's reliance on Russia for energy leaves it vulnerable to "unhealthy" political pressure from Moscow. Russia drew Washington's fury on Saturday when it vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria. Clinton will also encourage the former Soviet satellite to share its experiences in moving to democracy with Arab nations emerging from authoritarian rule. (AP)