President Bashar al-Assad said a victory for his army in the city of Aleppo would be a “huge step” towards ending the devastating five-year civil war.
Dozens of people have been killed as fighting broke out on the streets of Odessa, opening a new front in a conflict that has split the country.
Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, exposed as the women behind Pussy Riot, are on trial for hooliganism in Russia.
Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says the US is living beyond its means and acts "like a parasite" on the global economy.
Russia is looking to the experience of other countries to "regulate" internet use, though Moscow has no plans to broaden web censorship.
Jailed Russian ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was found guilty of money laundering and theft of billions of dollars on Monday.
A Russian judge began reading the verdict on Monday in jailed former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s politically charged second trial.