Russia's economy shrank sharply in November and the rouble resumed its slide on Monday as Western sanctions and a slump in oil prices combined to inflict the first contraction in GDP since the global financial crisis.

• December 29, 2014

German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to the Russian government on Sunday to use its influence on separatists in eastern Ukraine to implement a ceasefire plan agreed in Minsk in September aimed at ending the conflict.

• December 28, 2014

As U.S. and European sanctions piled pressure on Russia earlier this year, the Kremlin hit back with an unusual weapon: apples.

• December 28, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new military doctrine, naming NATO expansion among key external risks, the Kremlin said on Friday, days after Ukraine made fresh steps to join the Atlantic military alliance.

• December 26, 2014

Russia said on Thursday its currency crisis was over even though its forex reserves have plunged and annual inflation has climbed above 10 percent, adding to the problems facing the government as it fights its worst economic crisis since 1998.

• December 25, 2014

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine's pursuit of NATO membership posed a danger to European security and that the West was using Kiev's bid to join the Atlantic alliance as a way to fuel confrontation between Russia and Ukraine.

• December 25, 2014

Israeli police said on Wednesday they had detained more than 30 serving and former public officials in an investigation into alleged corruption linked to a party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition.

• December 24, 2014

Russia said on Wednesday NATO was turning Ukraine into a "frontline of confrontation" and threatened to sever remaining ties with the Atlantic military alliance if Ukraine's hopes of joining it were realized.

• December 24, 2014