The average current mortgage rates in Russia are very high compared to European and U.S. rates. In Russia they are in the range or 20% in Russian rubles and around 15% in U.S. if the loans are given in U.S. dollars. This is when in Europe and U.S. today's mortgage rates range from 3 to 6 percent. Western governments lowered the rates to stimulate the the credit markets and make housing affordable. Russia chose it's own way.

Dozens of workers at the Altay tractor assembly plant in south-central Russia held an unsanctioned protest on June 18 to demand their unpaid salaries, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

New figures released on Friday showed Russian unemployment continued to rise in April, increasing by 200,000 to 7.7 million, with 2.3 million officially registered as out of work, the Federal Statistics Service said.

After 10 years of armed conflict in breakaway Chechnya, is Russia about to declare victory and pull out?

It is hard enough living on a pension of $565 a month in Moscow - now Moisei Kelmanovich has to cope with rising inflation, and his faith in politicians is taking another hit.

Hefty bank loans and share offerings by Russian companies have led to a huge wave of capital into the country this year, and it potentially brings the danger to lose control over inflation in the nation's oil-fueled economy, the World Bank said Wednesday.