Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
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Russian President

Putin: Military force in Ukraine will be last resort

President Vladimir Putin says Russia has reserved the right to use all options in Ukraine, but that Moscow would use force only as a last resort.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov shake hands at the end of a news conference after their meeting in Moscow on Tuesday. (AP)

Envoys seek UN resolution on Syria amid squabbling

The US, UK and France want UN-sanctioned use of force should Syria fail to allow destruction of its chemical weapons, but Russia disagrees.

Vladimir Putin.

Putin signs ban on US adoptions of Russian children

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that bans Americans from adopting Russian children and imposed other sanctions in retaliation.

Two members of punk band Pussy Riot have been taken to remote Russian prison colonies.
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Jailed tycoon claims Pussy Riot trial torture

Russia’s most famous prisoner has likened the Pussy Riot trial to a medieval inquisition and says their prison regime may amount to torture.

Soyuz with US

Russian, US crew blast off safely for space station

Three astronauts have blasted off to the ISS as Russia seeks to restore confidence in its space programme after recent botched launches.

Phobos-Grunt spirals closer to Earth

Botched Mars mission fails to restore Russian pride

Russia’s failed Mars moon probe points to problems of a once-pioneering space industry struggling to recover after a generation of brain drain.

First contact with alien civilisation ‘by 2031’

Astronomers in Russia say contact with an extraterrestrial civilisation is inevitable, and that aliens will probably look just like humans.

Can nuclear power plants float?

A tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant might give some countries pause over the risks of exposing reactors to the power of the oceans. Not Russia.

Crisis-hit Russian city fears total shutdown

Revda is a collection of apartment blocks that rise out of nowhere in Russia’s far north, a town whose existence hangs by a thread.