The Russian Communist Party called for a moratorium on criticizing Josef Stalin on Monday to allow the country to celebrate the Soviet dictator's 130th birthday in peace. Nationwide, Stalin's popularity in Russia has been climbing amid Kremlin-backed efforts to defend his image. "We would very much like for any discussion of the mistakes of the Stalin epoch to be silenced today, so that people could reflect on Stalin's personality as a creator, a thinker and a patriot," Ivan Melnikov, the... Read Full Story
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev failed to clinch a landmark pact cutting Cold War stocks of nuclear arms on Friday but pledged to keep working for a deal in the New Year. Obama told reporters after meeting Medvedev in the Danish capital that Washington and Moscow were "quite close" to agreement but a senior Kremlin official later said that talks would continue in January after a Christmas break. "There will be a little break -- they (the... Read Full Story
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet on Friday during a global climate conference in Copenhagen to discuss rocky efforts to reach a new nuclear arms reduction treaty. With U.S. and Russian negotiators still grappling with differences over any final deal, a senior U.S. official said there were "still no real prospects for a signing" when the two leaders meet. The talks in the Danish capital follow Russia's call on Thursday for... Read Full Story
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The grandson of Josef Stalin is suing the radio station Ekho Moskvy, it said on Saturday, in a second attempt to stem media criticism of the leader whom many Russians still revere for victory in World War Two. Yevgeny Dzhugashvili is seeking 10 million roubles' ($326,900) compensation and an apology from Ekho Moskvy over comments made by presenter Matvey Ganapolsky on a program in October, who said: "Stalin signed an order that children can be shot from the age of 12 as... Read Full Story
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday asked Russian leaders to send more helicopters to back the Afghan campaign, after talks aimed at ending Moscow's rift with the transatlantic alliance. "Today I have invited Russia to strengthen Russia's terms of cooperation in Afghanistan," the NATO secretary general told reporters in the Kremlin after talks with President Dmitry Medvedev. Rasmussen said he had presented Russian leaders with a list of "concrete proposals" on helping NATO as it... Read Full Story
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will work on a new generation of nuclear missiles to ensure its nuclear deterrent remains effective, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday. Medvedev said the new missiles would be developed in full accordance with arms agreements made with the United States. "Of course, we will develop new systems, including delivery systems, that is, missiles," Medvedev said in an end-of-year interview with state-controlled television channels. "This process will be continued... Read Full Story
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday hailed a "new beginning" in the transatlantic alliance's relations with Moscow after they were badly strained by last year's Georgia crisis. "I think that this autumn represents a new beginning in our relationship," said Rasmussen at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Rasmussen was aiming to rebuild trust with Russia at the high-level talks, on the first visit by a head of the Western alliance since the... Read Full Story
MOSCOW (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked Russia on Wednesday to give the Western military alliance more help in Afghanistan but failed to get an immediate pledge of assistance from the Kremlin. On his first visit to Moscow since taking office on August 1, the NATO chief told senior officials that the bitter rows of recent years should not blind Russia to a common security threat from Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. Russia views Cold War adversary NATO with... Read Full Story
Russia on Thursday accused the United States of slowing down talks to agree a new nuclear weapons disarmament treaty, after officials admitted the two sides could no longer sign the accord this year. US and Russian officials have been holding intense talks in Geneva on replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which led to deep cuts in their nuclear arsenals but expired on December 5 without a replacement. "In the past couple of days we have noted a slowdown in the positions of the... Read Full Story
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen was aiming to rebuild trust with Russia in high-level talks in Moscow on Wednesday, on the first visit by a head of the Western alliance since the Georgia crisis. Furious disputes over Russia's actions during its war with Georgia last year plunged Moscow-NATO ties to a post-Cold War low, but Rasmussen has sought to restore cooperation with Russia since taking office in August. "Given the announcements by the new NATO secretary general about increasing the... Read Full Story
