President Dmitry Medvedev won tentative praise from opposition leaders Monday after meeting  with them and confirming a proposal to create a working group to discuss political reforms.

The number of Russian children living in orphanages remains stubbornly high, UNICEF said in a new report, while the Kremlin's children's ombudsman announced new plans for closing the state-run facilities.

"Let's look at the history of human development," he begins. "Somebody always has to be first. That person says, 'We need to develop in this way,' and nobody believes him; they're suspicious of him. Nobody believed Steve Jobs or Bill Gates at first."

Political satire has been enjoying a renaissance since the appearance of Russia's newly emboldened opposition.

United Russia, the country's dominant political party for more than a decade, might be radically reformed or even dissolved in the coming months.

U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul took to Twitter and Facebook on Wednesday in an attempt to refute charges that he's promoting regime change in Russia.

In Tuesday's second presidential debate of the campaign season, firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky harangued Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's levelheaded proxy over her patron's refusal to debate and alleged desire to rule for life.

Communist Gennady Zyuganov and businessman Mikhail Prokhorov kicked off the presidential campaign season on Monday with a testy TV debate that centered on Zyuganov's political accomplishments and Prokhorov's connection to the chaotic 1990s.

Dozens of cities around the globe saw miniversions of Saturday's For Honest Elections rally over the weekend as opposition-minded Russian expats gathered to show solidarity, educate locals and network in an extension of Russia's remarkable winter of political activism.

The official in charge of Russia's pro-Kremlin youth groups found himself embroiled in scandal Thursday after hackers posted links to what they claimed were thousands of his private e-mail messages.

The cyber front of Syria's year-old civil war spread to Russia this week as pro- 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.

An article on the Odintsovo.info news portal claims that the Moscow region branch of the press ministry sent a memorandum to state-owned news outlets with instructions on how to properly cover a pro-Putin rally, but the ministry denied the claim.

Twitter has announced it now has the ability to censor content in specific countries, leading critics to fear it may cause increased collusion with governments looking to stop opposition groups — like those behind Russia's recent election fraud protests – from using the site as an organizing tool.

President Dmitry Medvedev took a major step toward repairing damage inflicted to his reputation over a carefully staged meeting at Moscow State University last fall when he held a repeat of the event Wednesday.

After weeks of haggling, City Hall and the opposition struck a compromise deal early Thursday that would allow tens of thousands of protesters to march in central Moscow on Feb. 4.

As his term in office comes to a close, Dmitry Medvedev has made direct gubernatorial elections his last attempt at major reform. But in a sign of his dwindling influence, the effort has come under withering pressure from critics and even his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who suggested on Tuesday that the proposal needs more review.

Liberal stalwart Grigory Yavlinsky faces exclusion from the March 4 presidential election after many signatures submitted to register his candidacy were ruled inadmissible by the Central Elections Commission.

Billionaire and presidential hopeful Mikhail Prokhorov — who has presented himself as the candidate for the urban middle class — has unveiled a 15-page presidential platform that closely reflects the demands made by protesters at two massive opposition rallies last month.

More than 90,000 Orthodox Christian believers took a ritual dip in icy waters throughout the city to commemorate Epiphany early Thursday morning — almost double the number from last year — in the latest indication of growing enthusiasm for the church.

"By the time I get a chance to think about my decisions, I've already made them in my gut," Jan-Wilm Rovers said, crossing under the inflatable Father Frost that sits above the door to his office — one of 25,000 products sold by Koopman International RUS, the trading company where Rovers is chief executive.

A group of prominent figures unveiled on Wednesday a grassroots group dedicated to fighting election fraud — and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin immediately declared that he was ready to meet with them.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov agreed on Tuesday to implement a series of demands put forth by opposition protesters if he is elected president in the March 4 election.

A day after meeting Russian officials, new U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul sat down Tuesday with opposition politicians and civil activists — who were videotaped by pro-Kremlin youth activists as they left the embassy.

Russian survivors of the cruise liner that capsized off the coast of Tuscany last week, killing at least six, recalled a haphazard evacuation and heaped scorn on the ship's captain, whom the ship's operator has blamed for the disaster.

Having twice failed in criminal court, authorities in the Siberian republic of Altai will attempt to take the survivors of a VIP party of poachers to civil court.

Kirov Governor and former liberal heavyweight Nikita Belykh fought back Wednesday against insinuations of negligence from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, saying the Cabinet head was misinformed in his criticism and refusing to apologize for taking a long-overdue vacation.

The son of a high-ranking Tajik official, whose conviction in Russia on drug-smuggling charges in 2010 sparked a spat between the two countries that is believed to have led to politically motivated arrests on both sides, has been cleared of wrongdoing.

Following official requests from two Duma deputies, investigators on Wednesday opened a check into accusations that Kremlin allies illegally tapped opposition leader Boris Nemtsov's phone and published the recordings online.

On a windy December afternoon, a group of children living at Boarding School No. 8 gathered in the arts and crafts room to greet four young visitors, Russian alumni of a U.S. government program.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's job approval ratings have slid to an all-time low of 51 percent, and he will not win the presidential election without a runoff, according to the first nationwide survey taken since disputed State Duma elections.