Moscow

Under Kremlin orders, the U.S. Embassy has stopped employing Russians, forcing the embassy to cut its consular staff by 75% and limit many of its usual services

Russia’s top diplomat says Moscow will expel 10 U.S. diplomats in response to U.S. sanctions

Russia has said it is ready to cut ties with the European Union, in the latest escalation in tensions between the two sides.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited Moscow last week in what’s being described as a “humiliating” trip.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the Russian government after Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Tuesday.

A group that counts political detentions says Russian police have arrested more than 3,000 protesters who took to the streets across the country in temperatures as low as minus-50 C (minus-58 F) to demand the release of Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin’s most prominent foe

Joey Reed’s son, Trevor, is 29. He could spend nearly a decade of his life in a Moscow prison, where he’s been held since August 2019. For most of 2020, Texan Joey Reed has been living in Moscow. Despite many challenges, including the pandemic, Reed remains in Russia.  He is trying to keep his son’s case from falling below...

Moscow turned an ice rink into a hospital as Russia’s COVID-19 cases hit record numbers.

The Russian Investigative Committee released footage of a plane landing while on fire. The incident, which resulted in 41 deaths, occurred in May 2019.

An unidentified gunman opened fire Thursday outside the Moscow headquarters of Russia’s top security agency, killing one officer and wounding five others, officials said.

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff interrupted the impeachment hearing Friday morning to give the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine a chance to answer President Donald Trump’s real-time attacks on her on Twitter. Schiff took over the questioning to read aloud Trump’s broadside against the former ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, as she was testifying. “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad,” Trump tweeted...

Former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch asked whether it was necessary for President Donald Trump to smear her reputation, following questioning from Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio.

Twitter says its new ban on political ads will cover appeals for votes, solicitations for campaign contributions and any political content. Twitter is defining political content to include any ad that references a candidate, political party, government official, ballot measure, or legislative or judicial outcome. The ban also applies to all ads — even non-political ones — from candidates, political...

Washington’s Afghan peace envoy remained in Pakistan on Tuesday as part of efforts to find a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s 18-year war, even though President Donald Trump hasn’t expressed any interest in resuming talks with the Taliban. The envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, met with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday and was expected to hold talks with the country’s powerful...

President Donald Trump said he’s directed the lifting of economic sanctions on Turkey after the country informed the U.S. it will make “permanent” a five-day cease-fire in Syria. Claiming success at the U.S.-brokered effort, Trump said Wednesday, “this was an outcome created by us.” The cease-fire required Kurdish forces formerly allied with the U.S. against the Islamic State group to...

U.S troops withdrawing from northeastern Syria to Iraq are “transiting” and will leave the country within four weeks, Iraq’s defense minister said Wednesday. Najah al-Shammari made the remarks to The Associated Press following a meeting in Baghdad with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who arrived as Iraqi leaders chafed over reports the U.S. may want to increase the number...

The results of a congressional probe into the National Rifle Association’s ties to Russia paints a picture of NRA officials providing Russian officials access to American elected officials in exchange for lucrative business opportunities, NBC News reports. The investigation, conducted by Senate Finance Committee Democrats who released a report on their findings Friday, found that top officials at the NRA...

The Afghan government will only consider making a “legitimate” peace with insurgents after national elections are held this month, an official told reporters on Saturday, despite the atmosphere of political uncertainty following the sudden halt in U.S.-Taliban peace talks. President Donald Trump abruptly called off talks to end American’s longest war last week. The Afghan government was largely shut out...

A negotiating team from the Taliban arrived Friday in Russia, a representative told The Associated Press, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump declared dead a deal with the insurgent group in Afghanistan. Russian state news agency Tass cited the Taliban’s Qatar-based spokesman Suhail Shaheen as saying the delegation had held consultations with Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin’s envoy for...

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