Russia's armed forces would be within their full rights to use nuclear weapons if any threats to the integrity of the country arise, Russian General Staff head Nikolay Makarov said Wednesday.

Katya moved to Moscow seven years ago and three years later — when she was pregnant with her first child — discovered she was HIV-positive.

The campaign rhetoric in Russia's presidential election has grown increasingly harsh. This happens in many countries, but the difference with Russia is that "external factors" play a disproportionately greater role in the political process. In most other countries, voters evaluate candidates based on their domestic policies or track records, especially with regard to the economy.

Unprecedented protests have been held across Russia in recent months at which tens of thousands of demonstrators have been allowed to verbally lambaste the government.

A former senior employee of oil company Yukos was released from prison Wednesday after serving more than seven years on charges of stealing billions of dollars.

Russia came close to nuclear disaster in late December when a blaze engulfed a nuclear-powered submarine carrying atomic weapons, Vlast reported Monday, contradicting official assurances that it was not armed.

The situation in Russia has changed so much in recent weeks that the presidential election campaign has almost begun to resemble a real political contest.

Speculation of an orchestrated attack on the country's most high-profile radio station grew stronger Wednesday after Ekho Moskvy editor Alexei Venediktov said prosecutors had summoned him for questioning and a prominent show host said hackers had taken over his e-mail and blog accounts.

Independent election-monitoring group Golos is moving its Moscow office after its landlord demanded that the group cancel its rental contract early, a move Golos calls illegal.

When Russians look at Iran, they see a country that has been their neighbor and rival forever. As the Russian empire advanced, it wrestled the North and South Caucasus from the shah. Peter the Great annexed, briefly, Iran's entire Caspian Sea coastline and put his forces just north of Tehran.

Here we go again — another round of anti-Americanism from the Kremlin and state-controlled media. Blaming outside forces for Russia's woes has a long history in the country. The closer we get to the March 4 presidential election, the more intense the anti-American hysteria becomes.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin unveiled his plan on social policy Monday, focusing on how Russia will boost its dwindling population amid a demographic crisis that threatens to turn the country into "void space."

A prominent French writer and journalist has been kicked out of the country on the grounds that she did not have the right to research a book while on a business visa.

Today's Moscow is unlovable and unlivable, overdeveloped, underserved by public utilities and choked by traffic. You can't drive, you can't breathe, there is no place to park and walking is impossible thanks to giant SUVs lining the sidewalks.

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

A senior lieutenant serving on the Gepard atomic submarine, part of the Northern Fleet, hanged himself in his cabin.

While the Russian authorities are, for the time being, using kid gloves to deal with the opposition at home, they have not shown the same constraint in South Ossetia.

Architectural preservation group Arkhnadzor said Monday that demolition at the constructivist-era Dynamo football stadium as a part of ongoing building work was against the law.  

Russia's armed forces would be within their full rights to use nuclear weapons if any threats to the integrity of the country arise, Russian General Staff head Nikolay Makarov said Wednesday.

Vladimir Putin's campaign manager Stanislav Govorukhin quoted Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin in calling the liberal intelligentsia "the filth of the nation" in an interview published Monday.

In a city that was once the cradle of Russian democracy, an unprecedented new campaign kicked off over the weekend to install web cameras in every polling station around the country in an effort to prevent voting fraud.

Pussy Riot, a feminist punk collective from Moscow, creates protest through its dissident songs and unsanctioned performances, including a brief unauthorized concert in late January on Red Square.

If Putin gave up power at any age, he and dozens of his friends and colleagues who have become millionaires and billionaires over the past 10 years through their Kremlin-connected businesses could face serious corruption charges. This is why the best, and perhaps only, way for Putin to preserve immunity is to stay in power until death.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin got very angry last Wednesday when he met with the editors-in-chief of Russia's top media outlets.

A Russian state commission investigating the crash of the Fobos-Grunt Mars probe will conduct tests to see whether U.S. radar played a role in the spacecraft's failure.

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.

Demographics make it a candidate’s market, but foreigners have to offer something unique to find their place.

A schmaltzy music video hailing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as Russia's savior became a hit on the Russian Internet on Tuesday, with many bloggers and YouTube users poking fun at the song's hyperbolic lyrics.

The history of successive authoritarian regimes in Russia reveals a recurring pattern: They do not die from external blows or domestic insurgencies.

Putin has always been the ultimate "Teflon president" — but certainly not in the Ronald Reagan sense of the word. Putin's brand of Teflon is clearly made in Russia. Because he wants to avoid uncomfortable questions about his decade-long rule, Putin is once again refusing to participate in presidential debates.