Russian President Vladimir Putin has been heating up his rhetoric in the weeks leading up to the June 6-8 meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrialized nations in Germany.

Iran's top security official has dismissed as a "joke" U.S. plans to put parts of a missile-defense system in Europe to counter threats from Iran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country will aim its rockets at European targets if the United States goes ahead with plans to build a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that as Washington was suspected of triggering new arms race, meaning planned deployment of U.S. missile defense installations, Russia tested its new missiles.

More energy and investment agreements were expected to be signed during Vladimir Putin's visit to Luxembourg on Thursday, underscoring Moscow's growing economic clout.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says consultations with the United States have failed to change Moscow's opposition to a proposed missile-defense system in Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Vienna for a brief official visit amid tight security and expectations that Austrian leaders may gently take up human rights issues with him while focusing on business deals.

U.S. President George W. Bush says much tension exists between the West and Russia. In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Bush said his message for President Vladimir Putin was that Russia's "interests lie in the West."

Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov has compared the government of President Vladimir Putin to the dictatorships in Belarus and Zimbabwe. Kasparov said that while Russia might be closer to the European Union than to Africa, politically it resembles the dictatorship of Zimbabwe more than the democracies of Germany or France.

More than 100 demonstrators have rallied in the southern Russian city of Chelyabinsk to protest what they call President Vladimir Putin's authoritarian policies. One of the organizers of the March of Dissent, Oleg Stifonov, told RFE/RL that the rally proceeded peacefully.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Friday a decree on the Glonass navigation system to provide the service free for customers, the Kremlin press service said.

A summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and top EU officials in the Volga River city of Samara has concluded with only a handful of agreements on improving economic cooperation.