Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart George W Bush have discussed an upcoming NATO-Russia summit in a telephone conversation.

In his mission to restore Russia's pride and prestige, President Vladimir Putin has repackaged the Soviet national anthem, reinvented patriotic pro-Kremlin youth groups, and revived the cult of the suave KGB officer.

The murky politics of Vladimir Putin's Kremlin became even more puzzling as the Russian president named an obscure official, Viktor Zubkov, as prime minister.

A 90 year old war veteran, Alfred Donovan, created a gripe website focused on Shell which, in an extraordinary alliance with the so-called “Kremlin attack dog” Oleg Mitvol, has cost the oil giant billions of dollars and as a by-product, changed the course of history.

Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov said that Britain tried to politicize the investigation into the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, warning it would strain relations between Russia and the U.K.

Britain has asked Russia to extradite the man suspected of poisoning former Russian intelligence officer Aleksandr Litvinenko. Britain's ambassador to Moscow, Anthony Brenton, told reporters in St. Petersburg today that he has handed Russian authorities an official request for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi.

A Russian wanted in Britain on charges of murdering Kremlin critic Aleksandr Litvinenko has said that he does not rule out handing himself over to the British Embassy in Moscow.

Russia said on Friday that it would consider prosecuting the chief suspect in the radiation poisoning of a former Moscow intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, but Britain rejected the offer.

Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky today reiterated his view that the Kremlin was involved in the poisoning death of former intelligence officer Aleksandr Litvinenko.

Garry Kasparov, Russian opposition leader, said Monday that he will not give up his protest marches against Kremlin, in spite of many of them were violently dispersed by police or subjected to pressure and Kasparov was even blocked from taking part in march last week.

The Kremlin's top advisor on relations with the European Union says reports of a crisis between Moscow and Brussels are "seriously exaggerated." Sergei Yastrzhembsky, a top aide to President Vladimir Putin, acknowledged that there are problems between Russia and the European Union, but said they do not constitute a crisis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was the handpicked successor of Boris Yeltsin. And yet, on the surface, the two men could not be more different. In August 1999, then Russian President Boris Yeltsin picked an undistinguished bureaucrat, Vladimir Putin, to be prime minister.