Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev has told Serbian leaders there will be no shift in his country's support for Serb sovereignty over Kosovo.

Russia has sharply criticized the planned European Union mission to Kosovo, saying the deployment without prior approval by the United Nations' Security Council violates international law.

It's a bitter, windswept day in the Russian capital and 25 children are huddled around a table set up outside the Estonian Embassy, coloring in a giant poster of a statue of a soldier. They've just spent nearly three hours on a bus driving from the city of Vladimir, and from the looks of it, most of them just want to go home.

President Vladimir Putin says Russia has common peaceful interests with the United States and Europe, but will be forced to target missiles against neighbors if threatened by NATO expansion. The Russian leader expressed these and other views of Russian foreign and domestic affairs during his annual Kremlin news conference, which lasted four hours and 40 minutes. VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports.

Ukraine has avoided a gas cutoff by Russia in a last-minute deal reached by the presidents of both nations for re-payment of a Ukrainian energy debt to Moscow. As VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports, the leaders also discussed a range of bilateral issues, including the controversial possibility of Ukraine joining NATO.

Russia is warning of a new arms race if a treaty banning the deployment of weapons in outer space is not achieved. Russia and China have jointly presented a draft treaty to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament that would prohibit the deployment of weapons in space and the threat or use of force against satellites or other spacecraft. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

Russia writes off 93 percent of the Iraqi debt. The amount equals 12 billion dollars. The rest of the Iraqi state debt to Russia in the amount of 900 million dollars will be restructured for 17 years, as Russia’s Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin said. The agreement on the regulation of Iraq’s state debt to the Russian Federation was signed on February 11, 2008.

It isn't hard to find examples of Russian First Deputy Prime Minister and all-but-certain presidential successor Dmitry Medvedev making sweeping affirmations of liberal values.

Three weeks ahead of a presidential election to elect his successor, Russian President Vladimir Putin has addressed the country's top officials to outline his vision for Russia through the year 2020.

Russia ’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov believes that the US administration plans to deploy elements of its missile defense system in many countries of the world.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized the U.S. and NATO for military expansion toward Russia's borders and said his nation would respond to "new threats" by modernizing its weapons systems.

Russia's giant state-run natural gas monopoly Gazprom is threatening to cut off supplies to Ukraine next week.