Russia

Pro-western government in Chisinau says Moscow stoking trouble before elections

Kremlin may give military ally North Korea ‘advanced space and satellite technology’, US warns

Russian troops attempting to flank Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk oblast and have captured several nearby villages

Lt Yulia Mykytenko gives her eye witness account of the horrors of Russia’s attack in the context of Christmas and looming new year

Killing Time by Alan Bennett; Anarchy and Authority: Irish Encounters with Romanov Russia by Angela Byrne; Bone Black by bell hooks

Moldova accuses Russia of causing ‘security crisis’ by cutting gas flow to separatist-held region

Micheál Martin said Russian attacks continue ‘to cynically target civilians and civilian infrastructure’

Kyiv defends ending transit role for Russian gas as Kremlin halts flows to pro-western Moldova

Once one of the most talented defenders in Russia, Bugaev faced a long prison sentence for drug distribution

Bugaev considered one of most promising defenders in country but alcohol and crime saw him on war’s front lines

Transit deal expires with no follow-up agreement on flows to central Europe

When it comes to predicting the future, you might as well ask an astrologer as a rational expert

Trump’s re-election fuels global turmoil in which Putin is the biggest of many autocrats blending kleptocracy and dictatorship. US institutions and international treaties are fading, and Ukraine and Palestine have been betrayed

Mikheil Kavelashvili inauguration marks final step in what critics call state capture by pro-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili

Ilham Aliyev says he was ‘upset and surprised’ by versions of events around Azerbaijan Airlines crash put forward by Russian officials

Putin apologises to Azerbaijan’s Aliyev after Russian air defences apparently mistakenly shot down plane, killing 38

Bomb was found to be concealed in a portable music speaker, Russian intelligence officers say

Kharkiv Letter: Missile-proof metro stations host frontline city’s main Christmas tree and seasonal concerts

As communism turned to right-wing authoritarianism, Moscow became an immense version of Dodge City or Tombstone

Slovak PM Robert Fico has been outspoken opponent of EU military support for Kyiv during conflict

Finnish investigators believe seized Russian ship caused outage of Estlink 2 undersea power and internet lines

Highly readable account of a remarkable political life has a conversational tone, reflecting Navalny’s metier of social media

Taoiseach Albert Reynolds along with Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen and Willie O’Dea were snubbed on tarmac

Anti-aircraft fire may have caused plane to crash in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, according to US and regional officials

Assad was diagnosed with acute form of disease in May and has been given 50/50 chance of survival

A year of terrible wars and the re-invigoration of populist politics which has all underlined deeply worrying trends in international relations

Ukrainian president accuses Putin of deliberately choosing Christmas for strike on energy system

Airline said Embraer plane, with 67 passengers and five crew on board, made emergency landing near city of Akatu on Caspian Sea

Lying about 40 miles from the nearest Russian-occupied territory, city has regularly been the target of Russian missile attacks throughout war

John Bolton describes Trump’s decision-making as driven by personal relationships and ‘neuron flashes’, rather than a deep understanding of national interests

Seoul, Washington and Kyiv have said there are around 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia to assist in its war in Ukraine

Putin vows to bring more ‘destruction’ to Ukraine after devastating drone attack on central Russian city of Kazan

Ukraine is still standing after more than 1,000 days of full-scale fighting with Russia, in the biggest war in Europe since 1945

As China and Russia weigh up their options in anticipation of Donald Trump’s second presidency, horrified countries in the Global South see Gaza as an emblem of US and European double standards

At least one dead in Kyiv and six killed in Russia’s Kursk region

EU summit: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Russia ‘not interested’ in peace

Moscow ‘ready for negotiations and compromises’ to end the fighting, Russian president says during carefully controlled press conference

Igor Kirillov killed on Tuesday by device hidden in a scooter outside general’s apartment building

Russia vows revenge for assassination of general who was head of its nuclear defence troops

Central bank sent planeloads of dollars in 2018 and 2019 when dictator was indebted to the Kremlin