President Vladimir Putin

Perhaps more than any other capital in the world, Beijing has closely observed the change of the guard in the Kremlin. There are many reasons for Beijing's concerns: Russia's revival as a major power, its petro-politics approach to foreign relations, managing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), not to mention the stability of the 4,300-kilometer Sino-Russian border.

Russia is a country with more than its fair share of idiosyncrasies, yet even by its standards tomorrow's presidential vote takes peculiarity to the extreme. Those Russians who choose to cast their ballots will be participating in an election that is not really an election, in order to choose a president who, most likely, will not really be a president.

Russia could aim nuclear missiles at Ukraine if it joins NATO and accepts the deployment of anti-missile defense elements on its territory, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday. Speaking at a news conference with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Putin said Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO would restrict its sovereignty. "That raises the question for Russia of the need for retaliatory actions," Putin said.

Washington is trying to gauge whether Russia's recent bomber mission near a U.S. aircraft carrier indicated Moscow's return to a Cold War "mind-set" and is considering how the Pentagon should respond, a senior U.S. military officer said on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said here Friday that the world is facing a new arms race, RIA news agency reported.

The Kremlin is tired of Western criticisms -- that Russia is becoming more authoritarian, human rights are violated, journalists are at risk and elections are rigged. Now the Kremlin is trying to turn the tables on the West, setting up a think tank its founders say will expose the flaws of Western democracies.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his favored successor Dmitry Medvedev could take turns to run Russia for another quarter of a century, a senior Kremlin ally said in an interview published on Monday.

Russia urges Iran to keep a wary eye on Washington for the NIE report may be aimed at fooling Tehran into halting defense preparations.

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's top military officer on Saturday accused the United States of seeking direct confrontation with Moscow and warned again that US plans to deploy missile defenses in Europe would destabilize the continent. Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky said such a deployment would prompt an "asymmetrical response." He did not elaborate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that he was willing to serve as prime minister under his protege Dmitry Medvedev, who is almost certain to be the country's next president.