My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow follows Russian journalists who report on the country's abuses. Reviewer Justin Chang calls it one of the most engrossing films he's seen all year.
Russia lost a war in Crimea in the 1850s. To pay off war debts, Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. Now, Presidents Trump and Putin will meet Friday in Alaska to discuss another war involving Crimea.
President Trump said the Russian leader Vladimir Putin had warned that he would retaliate for a covert Ukrainian attack in Russia last weekend that destroyed dozens of Russian bombers.
Ukraine and European allies had demanded Russia accept a 30-day ceasefire starting Monday before holding talks, but Moscow effectively rejected the proposal and called for direct negotiations instead.
As the Trump administration works toward a halt in the fighting, many experts fear that Ukraine will be forced to accept a ceasefire deal that will only give Russian forces a badly needed breather.
The talks build on last week's phone call between President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin during which the two leaders agreed to work together toward a negotiated end to the war.
The Kremlin said air defense systems were firing near Grozny due to a Ukrainian drone strike as the airliner attempted to land, but stopped short of saying it was shot down by Russian air defenses.
A Navalny spokesperson said the assailant smashed a window of Leonid Volkov's car, sprayed tear gas into his eyes and started hitting him with a hammer in Lithuania's capital.
In a sign of Navalny's ability to inspire the public, in 2017 his followers chanted words in Putin's hometown that are among the most dangerous to utter in their country: "Russia without Putin."
Yekaterina Duntsova is a former journalist-turned-politician who opposes the Ukraine war and hopes to challenge Putin, but her efforts to run stalled after election officials rejected her nomination.
Russian President Vladimir Putin resumed his traditional year-end press conference, after canceling last year, when Russia was doing badly on the battlefield. He combined it with a call-in program.
Vladimir Putin moved to prolong his repressive and unyielding presidency for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy in the election next March that he is all but certain to win.
Russia and China have forged an informal alliance against the United States and other democratic nations that is now complicated by the Israel-Hamas war.
