More sanctions?
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former CEO of the oil and gas company Exxon said in an interview on Sunday that he had a friendship with Vladimir Putin for 18 years. Tillerson said the relationship was based on: “What could I do to be successful on behalf of my shareholders, how Russia could succeed."
On sanctions, the secretary of state told the popular television program, 60 Minutes: “We've taken steps that have already prevented a number of Russian military sales" and that "we are evaluating additional individuals for possible sanctioning."
Doping violations
A Russian athlete suspected of doping has reportedly left the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
The Reuters news agency reported that Alexander Krushelnitsky, who won a bronze medal in curling, is suspected of testing positive for meldonium, a banned substance.
Earlier, the press secretary for the Russian delegation at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang said he had received a notice from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over possible violations of anti-doping rules.
Church shooting
Five people were killed near a church on Saturday in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region of Russia that has been plagued by terrorist attacks.
An unidentified assailant opened fire as the victims were returning from a service at a cathedral in Kizlyar. Police reportedly arrived at the scene and shot dead the gunman.
Bronze medal
Russian Olympic athlete Ilya Burov won a bronze medal in freestyle skiing on Sunday at the Winter Games in South Korea.
Environmental action
Some 3,000 people turned out to a protest on Sunday against a metals factory near a residential area in the eastern Russian Urals city of Chelyabinsk.
Burning cathedral
Russians in the provincial town of Nikola-Lenivets southwest of Moscow, celebrated Maslenitsa Friday to mark the beginning of Lent.
As part of the celebrations, a 30-meter effigy of a cathedral was set on fire. The artist Nikolai Polissky described the structure as “not a gothic cathedral but a great pyre.”
