It is a truism that rapid accumulation of wealth by a privileged minority is bound to generate lasting resentment by the majority.

Fall 1991 saw U.S. and Soviet leaders display goodwill by pledging to unilaterally consolidate and reduce their nations' arsenals of tactical nuclear weapons in what became the last milestone in the history of U.S.-Soviet arms control.

Both Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev have repeatedly suggested that they may run in the 2012 presidential election. But neither has announced an official bid, and they have put considerable effort into keeping everyone guessing.

At the November NATO summit in Lisbon, Russia and the alliance set June as a deadline to make progress in developing a framework for cooperating on missile defense. If an agreement is reached, it could become a game-changer in Russia's relations with the United States and its NATO allies.

We are going to pursue terrorists everywhere. If they are in the airport, we will pursue them in the airport. And if we capture them in the toilet, then we will waste them in the outhouse. … The issue has been resolved once and for all,”  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told Russian television on Sept. 24, 1999.

The recent ultranationalist rampage in downtown Moscow was made possible by ineffective law enforcement and ethnic policies that could prove devastating for the multiethnic Russian state.

Ruslan Yamadayev, a former State Duma deputy and a member of a Chechen clan that challenged President Ramzan Kadyrov’s authority, was gunned down in central Moscow late Wednesday.

President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday praised the European Union’s decision to reject slapping sanctions on Russia over its war with Georgia but criticized the Western bloc for failing to understand the Kremlin’s motives in the conflict.

The brief but intensive armed conflict in South Ossetia has signaled Russia's willingness and ability to fight and win conflicts beyond its borders after years of focusing its war machine on nuclear deterrence and the suppression of internal security threats.

In a second attempt this week to calm investors worried about the Mechel affair, President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday called on authorities to stop harassing businesses and private companies to start paying taxes in full.

Russian armed forces will commission half a dozen aircraft carriers and the necessary support ships, a senior commander said Sunday during Navy Day celebrations.

When Vladimir Putin became acting president on New Year’s Eve in 1999, he took over a country whose armed forces were struggling to fill combat-ready units to fight guerillas in Chechnya.

President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday unveiled a new foreign policy strategy that grants unprecedented rights to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and shows that the Kremlin will maintain the tough course set during Putin’s presidency.

The Georgian government and its Western allies have reacted to the ongoing escalation of tensions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia by pushing harder for changes to the peacekeeping and conflict-resolution arrangements there.

The Federal Space Agency has signed an agreement with an investor to secure financing for an additional ship to help the country cash in on the growing space-tourism boom.

President Dmitry Medvedev met Friday with leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of former Soviet republics, trying to keep energy exports in the region under Moscow's control while warning his counterparts against seeking NATO membership.

President Dmitry Medvedev fired General Staff chief Yury Baluyevsky on Tuesday in a much-anticipated move after regular reports of disagreements with Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov over the direction and implementation of military reforms.

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest the unsanctioned deployment of Russian troops to Abkhazia, though the ambassador insisted the troops’ mission was merely to “improve the quality of life” in the breakaway Georgian region.

President Dmitry Medvedev has replaced the Federal Security Service’s longtime director with a veteran security agent who, analysts said, could tackle economic crimes with gusto and strengthen Medvedev’s hand over the law enforcement agencies.

As part of Monday’s government shakeup, President Dmitry Medvedev named Alexander Konovalov, the presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District, to replace Vladimir Ustinov as justice minister, in a move that appeared to further undercut the influence of the so-called siloviki.

The standoff between Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and an influential Chechen clan entered the third day Wednesday as both sides traded accusations of murder and abuse of power.

Tensions escalated in Chechnya on Tuesday after loyalists of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and a local commander were locked in a standoff in which four people have already been killed.

Serzh Sargsyan, the handpicked successor of outgoing Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, is to be sworn in Wednesday as the next president of the South Caucasus republic.

Abandoning his bellicose rhetoric, President Vladimir Putin will seek to initiate a meaningful dialogue on security and to sign a political declaration with the NATO-Russia Council during this week's NATO summit.

General Yury Baluyevsky, the chief of the General Staff, has asked to be relieved of his post as a result of his bitter opposition to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov's plans for reforming the armed forces, Novaya Gazeta reported.

Court marshals break through the door of a woman's apartment to enforce a court order.

Vladimir Putin made what seemed to be an implausible promise in August 1999. The newly appointed prime minister said he could end a crisis caused by the incursion of 2,000 rebels from Chechnya into Dagestan in ""a week and a half or two weeks.""

Russia's resurgence on the world stage and its economic growth will continue, but the country will not evolve into a full-fledged democracy in the next decade if Vladimir Putin succeeds in transferring power to his successor and oil prices stay high, a new report says.

Russia's resurgence on the world stage and its economic growth will continue, but the country will not evolve into a full-fledged democracy in the next decade if Vladimir Putin succeeds in transferring power to his successor and oil prices stay high, a new report says.

Despite being tipped as a presidential contender for months, Dmitry Medvedev has offered little but curt generalities about his stance on foreign policy issues. This may be a reflection of Medvedev's dislike for the strong anti-Western rhetoric that seems to have become almost obligatory for senior officials over the past year, and his silence promises an incremental rapprochement with the West if he becomes president, analysts said Wednesday.