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Putin says Russia will stand up for itself

Last updated Wednesday, May 9, 2012 - 9:54am

MOSCOW -- Speaking to thousands of soldiers at the annual Red Square military parade, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Wednesday that the country is a force for world security and that Russia will stand up for its positions.

Putin's speech, two days after his inauguration for a third term in the Kremlin, came less than a week after the nation's military chief of staff warned that Russia would consider pre-emptive strikes, if a dispute with the United States over a Europe-based missile defense system worsens.

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visits the election monitoring center in Moscow, Tuesday, March 6, 2012. Putin won his third presidential term in Sunday's election. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Yana Lapikova, Government Press Service)

Hundreds of Russian protesters arrested

Jim Heintz The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, March 6, 2012 - 11:15am

MOSCOW -- Vladimir Putin's spokesman defended the arrest of hundreds of demonstrators protesting the election returning the autocratic leader to the presidency, saying police were professional and effective.

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FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012 file photo, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gesture while speaking as he attends a massive rally in his support at Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, Russia. Russian and Ukrainian special services have arrested a group of suspects accused of involvement in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia's state television reported Monday, Feb. 27, 2012. (AP Photo /Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)

Assassination plot targeting Putin foiled, Russia says

Sergei L. Loika Los Angeles Times

Last updated Monday, February 27, 2012 - 6:04pm

MOSCOW -- Security services of Russia and neighboring Ukraine foiled a plan to assassinate Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin organized by an underground movement in the restive North Caucasus region, state television reported Monday.

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In this Monday, Feb. 5, 2012 photo provided by Arctic and Antarctic Research Insitute of St. Petersburg, Russian researchers at the Vostok station in Antarctica pose for a picture after reaching subglacial lake Vostok. Scientists hold the sign reading "05.02.12, Vostok station, boreshaft 5gr, lake at depth 3769.3 metres." The Russian team reached the lake hidden under miles of Antarctic ice on Sunday, a major scientific discovery that could provide clues for search for life on other planets. (AP Photo/Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute Press Service, )

Russian scientists reach lake under Antarctica

Vladimir Isachenkov The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - 10:49am

MOSCOW -- After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years -- a lake that may hold life from the distant past and clues to the search for life on other planets.

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Syrian army defectors distribute bread for children in the Rastan area in Homs province, central Syria, on Monday Jan. 30, 2012. Syrian forces heavily shelled the restive city of Homs on Monday, and troops pushed back dissident troops from some suburbs on the outskirts of Damascus in an offensive trying to regain control of the capital's eastern doorstep, activists said.(AP Photo)

Russia: UN resolution on Syria is path to war

Elizabeth Kennedy The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 10:17am

BEIRUT — A senior Russian diplomat Tuesday said a draft U.N. resolution demanding Syrian President Bashar Assad step aside is a "path to civil war," as Syrian troops besieged rebellious areas with hours of shelling and machine-gun fire.

The U.N. Security Council was set to meet later Tuesday to discuss the draft, backed by Western and some Arab powers. But Russia would likely veto any strong action against Damascus.

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gestures while a national call-in TV show in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011.Putin said Thursday the results of Russia's parliamentary election reflected the people's will, and that the opposition had alleged vote fraud purely to strengthen its position. "The results of this election undoubtedly reflect the real balance of power in the country," he said, speaking in a national call-in TV show. "It's very good that United Russia has preserved its leading position." He added that a drop in support for his party was a natural result of the global financial crisis of 2008 that has taken its toll on the country.(AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Pool)

Putin rejects any redo of fraud-tainted vote

Vladimir Isachenko The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, December 15, 2011 - 11:33am

MOSCOW -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vehemently rejected opposition calls for a rerun of the parliamentary election, accusing those who organized massive protests against vote fraud of working to weaken Russia at the West's behest.

Politics, Protests, Russia, Vladimir Putin, International Read more Comments

Experiment points to pilot error in Russian crash

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, October 13, 2011 - 8:34am

MOSCOW -- A pilot helping to investigate a Russian jet crash that killed 44 people said Thursday that a simulation pointed to pilot error as the cause.

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(ALEXEI DRUZHININ/The Associated Press) Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaking at a United Russia party congress in Moscow, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011. Russia’s dominant political party on Saturday nominated Vladimir Putin for president, almost certainly ensuring his return to the office he held for eight years, and approved Putin’s proposal that current president Dmitry Medvedev swap places and become prime minister.

Putin to run for Russian presidency in 2012

Jim Heintz The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 4:34pm

MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin’s decision to reclaim the presidency next year sets up the possibility that he could rule Russia until 2024 and foreshadows a continuation of the strongman rule that many in the West have called a retreat from democracy.

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, right, and British Prime Minister David Cameron are seen before talks in the Kremlin, Moscow, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. Cameron insisted Monday that Russia and Britain can overcome sharp differences in their relations, including the 2006 poisoning death of a Kremlin critic in London, to seal new trading ties and help promote stability in the wake of the Arab Spring. (AP Photo/Natalia Kolesnikova, Pool)

In Russia, UK's Cameron seeks trade and new ties

David Stringer The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, September 12, 2011 - 9:32am

MOSCOW — British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Russia for a rare visit Sunday, seeking to secure crucial new trade and warmer ties with an often difficult ally, five years after the poisoning death of a Kremlin critic in London exposed bitter differences.

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Rescuers seen at the crash site of Russian Yak-42 jet near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011. The Yak-42 jet carrying a top ice hockey team crashed while taking off Wednesday in western Russia. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

Russian jet crash kills 43, many top hockey stars

Lynn Berry The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - 1:10pm

TUNOSHNA, Russia — A private Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team slammed into a riverbank moments after takeoff Wednesday, killing at least 43 people in one of the worst plane crashes ever involving a sports team.

Both Russia and the world of hockey were left stunned by the deaths of so many international stars in one catastrophic event. Two other people on board were critically injured.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, left, says goodbye to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, right, after a meeting an a military garrison, outside Ulan-Ude in Byryatia, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived Wednesday in remote eastern Siberia for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expected to focus on energy deals, economic aid and nuclear disarmament.(AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service)

NKorea reported ready to halt WMD tests

Mansur Mirovalev The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - 10:12am

MOSCOW — North Korea is ready to impose a moratorium on nuclear missile tests if international talks on its nuclear program resume, a spokesman for Russia's president said Wednesday after talks between the two leaders at a Siberian military base.

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Russian president fires police chief after bombing

The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, January 26, 2011 - 10:22am

MOSCOW -- In the wake of the deadly bombing of Russia's busiest airport, President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday fired a top official of the country's transport police and lashed out at "passive" officers who guard the country's transport centers.

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Putin: Retribution 'inevitable' for airport attack

The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, January 25, 2011 - 11:53am

MOSCOW -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vowed "retribution is inevitable" for the suicide bombing that killed 35 people at Russia's busiest airport, while President Dmitry Medvedev demanded robust checks at all transport hubs and lashed out at the airport for lax security.

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Explosion kills 31 at Moscow airport

The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, January 24, 2011 - 10:29am

MOSCOW -- An explosion ripped through the international arrivals hall at Moscow's busiest airport on Monday, killing 31 people and wounding about 130, officials said. The Russian president called it a terror attack.

The state RIA Novosti news agency, citing law enforcement sources, said the mid-afternoon explosion at Domodedovo Airport may have been caused by a suicide bomber.

Amateur video posted on YouTube showed the terminal engulfed by smoke, with a pile of bodies in one section and other bodies scattered around the floor.

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Moscow police chief questions civil liberties

David Nowak, The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, December 22, 2010 - 10:33am

MOSCOW -- Moscow's police chief questioned Wednesday whether civil liberties are even practical when authorities need to keep law and order, the latest sign that ethnic tensions in Russia could lead to new democratic rollbacks.

His remarks backed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's comments on a possible restoration of strict Soviet era-restrictions on movement into big cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg, a move that seems to target dark-complexioned people in the Caucasus.

Civil liberties, Police, Russia, International Read more Comments