Russian politicians have voted for restrictions on the news media after a Moscow newspaper reported that President Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife and planned to marry a champion gymnast.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov's opposition alliance has been barred from participating in December's parliamentary elections, a spokeswoman for the group said today.

President Vladimir Putin today dismissed calls for Russia’s dismissal from the Group of Eight as a product of a Cold War mentality and said leaders of the G-8 nations support Russia’s presidency.

Russian Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov today became the first prominent politician to throw his hat in the ring for the 2008 presidential election, a poll in which President Vladimir Putin is constitutionally barred from running.

President Vladimir Putin today nominated Mikhail Fradkov, a former tax police chief who is Russia’s representative to the European Union, to the post of prime minister.

The biggest pro-Kremlin party is set to dominate the Russian legislature after parliamentary elections tightened President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.

The biggest pro-Kremlin party pulled far ahead of its rivals in Russia’s parliamentary elections today, with partial preliminary results suggesting President Vladimir Putin can tighten his grip over the Duma ahead of his own likely re-election bid.

The main pro-Kremlin party competing in Russia's parliamentary elections was leading with a wide margin over the second-polling party, the Communists, the first exit poll results showed last night.

Dozens of masked gunmen have burst into a clinic in Chechnya and kidnapped five people as they waited to see a doctor.