Syrian forces stormed several rebel bastions on Wednesday despite a truce pledge, as Russia predicted the opposition would never defeat President Bashar al-Assad’s army even if “armed to the teeth.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops stormed and shelled several towns or villages from early Wednesday, following fierce assaults and clashes the previous [...]

Russia has broken the shackles of state-planned economics but remains tied to oil prices and the whims of a bloated bureaucracy on the 20th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s collapse. Few modern events seemed as filled with promise or challenge as the prospect of ex-Cold War foe Russia dropping its Communist five-year plans and picking [...]

Russia deployed troops in central Moscow and held opposition figures on Tuesday after an unprecedented protest against polls that critics said were rigged in favour of Vladimir Putin’s party. Several thousand people followed a call on social networking sites for a rally late Monday in Moscow against the results of weekend elections which Putin’s United [...]

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday in advance of parliamentary elections that Russia faced numerous risks in the future that demanded that the government tighten its grip on power. Putin told the year’s last session of the State Duma lower house of parliament ahead of December 4 elections that Russia’s economy would struggle to [...]