Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will skip a planned visit to the United States this month for a key global summit and a much-anticipated meeting with President Barack Obama, the Kremlin confirmed Thursday, as he faced pressure from protests and opposition criticism at home.

• May 10, 2012

Ukraine has postponed a summit of Central and East European leaders planned for this week after several of them said they would boycott it.

• May 8, 2012

Vladimir Putin took the oath as Russia's president today with a ringing appeal for unity at the start of a six-year term in which he faces growing dissent, economic problems and bitter political rivalries.

• May 7, 2012

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on India Monday to further cut its imports of Iranian oil, saying New Delhi should use its growing clout to help isolate the Islamic republic.

• May 7, 2012

Russia and China have firmed up their nuclear cooperation, with Moscow set to build two more high-power reactors in this country's Tianwan atomic plant.

• April 28, 2012

Russia was interested in participating in energy projects in Kyrgyzstan, a Russian official said here Friday.

• April 28, 2012

As the world's major emerging economies, China and Russia will continue to deepen bilateral cooperation to promote common development, Zhong Shan, vice minister of commerce, wrote in an article to be published Friday by the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

• April 26, 2012

Iran is thinking of halting its nuclear programme to avoid EU sanctions that will make it impossible to export most of its oil. Responding to a proposal by Russia to halt its nuclear programme in exchange for no imposition of sanctions, Iranian ambassador to Russia Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi said: "We need to study this proposal and to establish on what basis it has been made."

• April 26, 2012