Russia's economy will be under major strain in 2025, economists told BI. One said stagnation was similar to the USSR at the start of the 1980s.

Lavrov accused multiple member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of making threatening statements about their nuclear stockpiles or the potential use of nuclear weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in the Kremlin on Sunday with Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in 2022.

Bank interest rates on deposits and loans rose much higher than the central bank's key rate, causing a slowdown in lending activity.

Volunteers are grappling with environmental havoc across more than 35 miles of coastline, after at least 3,700 tons of heavy oil spilled into the Kerch Strait.

EXCLUSIVE: A British aid worker on the front line in Ukraine has celebrated Christmas Day under attack from Kremlin forces.

The administration is considering major new financial sanctions on energy, in part to give the new Trump team leverage in Ukraine talks. But Biden may not want to drive gas prices up, even in his final days in office.

Volunteers helping to clean up a major oil spill along Russia's Black Sea coast appealed in a video released on Monday for President Vladimir Putin to urgently send federal aid, saying that they and local authorities were overwhelmed.

"What we need now is not to improve the nuclear doctrine, but the 'Oreshnik'," the Russian president said on Tuesday.

Vladimir Putin said he is ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks on ending his war and has no conditions for starting discussions – as he boasted about Russia’s military achievements at his annual marathon televised news conference.

Officials and political pundits in Moscow have voiced their support for President-elect Donald Trump's recent pitch to buy Greenland, posted to Truth Social.