Several times in recent months, Mr. Kudrin â” a longtime ally of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin â” has called for deep domestic changes, arguing that Russia will slip out of the ranks of the worldâ™s leading nations unless it allows for fair competition in politics and business. </p>

// Jun. 28, 2011 - 06:00 GMT

Obamaâ™s kowtowing to Russia on missile defense guarantees a stalemate and long-term missile vulnerability. The Russians will never be satisfied with an American anti-missile system in Europe. Unless Moscow can call the shots, which Washington must refuse. </p>

// Jun. 28, 2011 - 05:57 GMT

The issue remains dynamic and its relative importance ebbs and flows in the context of political developments in Moscow and Tokyo

// Jun. 28, 2011 - 05:53 GMT

Analysts suggest that various permutations might be possible. Mr Putin could stand for president again as United Russiaâ™s candidate, and designate Mr Medvedev prime minister with a specific modernising mandate. Or Mr Putin could endorse Mr Medvedev to stand as the two partiesâ™ joint presidential candidate. </p>

// Jun. 27, 2011 - 06:31 GMT

Metals and mining magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, 46, was elected leader of the liberal 'Right Cause' party on Saturday and immediately promised he would challenge Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and its stultifying stranglehold on power.

// Jun. 27, 2011 - 06:28 GMT

The construction of pipelines is of paramount importance for the energy policies of Washington, Beijing, Brussels, and Moscow, making the design, budgeting, and implementation of pipeline projects always thorny and controversial.

// Jun. 27, 2011 - 06:25 GMT

Always a provincial place, a Russian-speaking corner within Romanian-speaking Moldova, this tiny break-away region has had neither the time nor the resources to acquire the outward trappings of a state.

// Jun. 24, 2011 - 05:48 GMT

USSR cold war design wasn't all ungainly spacecraft and western knock-offs â“ beneath the yoke of communism, some important lessons about sustainability were being learned </p>

// Jun. 24, 2011 - 05:39 GMT

Is Russia buying this contradictory official line, or is Syriaâ™s geostrategic location blurring the eyes of Russians to the atrocities being committed by the Syrian government? Russia has refused to vote for a UN resolution condemning Syrian violence against its protestors. While the UN resolution is not calling for an intervention, it is interesting to discuss the foreign intervention in the region, the possibility of it in Syria, and why Russia wants to stay on Mr. Assadâ™s good side. </p>

// Jun. 23, 2011 - 06:05 GMT

For someone supposed to be a puppet, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is making a surprisingly convincing job of faking autonomy.

// Jun. 23, 2011 - 06:01 GMT