Russia is not trying to bring back the USSR, President Vladimir Putin said in a documentary aired Sunday, but the problem is that "nobody wants to believe it"
Eldar Ryazanov, one of the most popular film directors of the Soviet era whose comedies captured the unique absurdities of life under Communism, died Monday aged 88.
Turkey on Monday sent back to Russia the corpse of a pilot killed when his plane was shot down by the Turkish air force for allegedly violating its air space on the Syrian border.
Moscow slapped sanctions on Ankara as the war of words over a downed Russian warplane escalated, with Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning Russia not to "play with fire".
French President Francois Hollande will hold talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as part of his diplomatic marathon to forge a broader coalition against Islamic State jihadists in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone with Russia's foreign minister and urged a de-escalation of tensions after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkey-Syria border.
Sanctions against Russia over its involvement in the Ukraine crisis could be lifted if Moscow fulfils commitments it made to help resolve the conflict, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to play down tensions with Russia after Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane on the Syria border sparked fears among NATO allies of a wider conflict.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said that the military alliance stands by key ally Turkey after it shot down a Russia fighter jet on the Syrian border but urged both sides to try to calm the crisis.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recommended against Russians travelling to Turkey and cancelled his own planned visit after Ankara shot down a Russian fighter jet.
According to Kazakhstan’s political scientist and Director of Kazakhstani Institute of Strategic Studies Yerlan Karin, Russian plane shot down by Turkey is a point of no return in the Syrian crisis.
European Union president Donald Tusk called for calm after Turkey, a candidate for membership of the bloc, shot down a Russian war plane on the Syrian border.
According to Mikhail Khazin, parity between the Russian ruble and the Kazakh tenge contributes to de-dollarization of trade between Kazakhstan and Russia.