Russian news agencies said yesterday that one of the suspects in the killing of leading opposition figure Boris Nemtsov has admitted involvement in the crime.

Artillery fire in eastern Ukraine has killed at least eight people and wounded 22 others in the past day, rebels in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk said.

Indiscriminate rocket fire has hit a market, schools, homes and shops in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, killing at least 30 people, authorities said.

Moscow

A major exchange of war prisoners is getting under way in eastern Ukraine, with about 370 expected to be released.

A major exchange of war prisoners is getting under way in eastern Ukraine, with about 370 expected to be released.

A major exchange of war prisoners is getting under way in eastern Ukraine, with about 370 expected to be released.

A ceasefire between pro-Russian separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine has been breached as mortar fire struck an apartment block in the rebel-held city of Donetsk.

Hundreds of trucks from a bitterly disputed Russian aid convoy to rebel-held eastern Ukraine rolled back across the border into Russia today.

If Ukrainian rebels shot down the Malaysian jetliner, killing 298 people, it may have been because they didn’t have the right systems in place to distinguish between military and civilian aircraft, experts said at the weekend.

Ukraine’s incoming president spoke briefly with Russian president Vladimir Putin after world leaders gathered at D-Day commemoration ceremonies in Normandy.

Vladimir Putin has told European leaders that Ukraine’s growing gas debts to Moscow can threaten supplies to Europe.

Russia is on a collision course with the EU and the US, with the referendum in Crimea on Sunday threatening to escalate the situation onto another level.

A Russian performance artist was hospitalised after stripping naked and nailing his testicles to a Red Square cobblestone in protest against the Kremlin’s crackdown on political rights.

Yaya Toure has been praised by Europe’s leading anti-discrimination group for raising the prospect of black players boycotting the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The United Nations will hear its experts’ verdict on the alleged poison gas attack in Syria after the chief chemical weapons inspector turned over his report to the world body.

US security whistleblower Edward Snowden has asked for temporary asylum in Russia, according to reports.

North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast, a day after launching three more of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said.

A man helping to construct the stage for a major protest rally in Moscow has died after a column of sound equipment collapsed.

A fire has swept through a psychiatric hospital outside Moscow, killing 38 people including two doctors, emergency officials said.

The CIA has confirmed it wanted one of the Boston bombing suspects placed on a terrorist database 18 months ago.

Russian authorities say a man opened fire in a south-western town, killing at least six people before fleeing.

A car bomb has exploded at a security checkpoint near the headquarters of Syria’s ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy in the capital Damascus, killing at least four people, reports say.

French actor Gerard Depardieu has flown to Sochi where he is likely to meet with President Vladimir Putin and receive a Russian passport.

World leaders hailed President Barack Obama’s sweeping re-election, with allies pledging to deepen cooperation with the United States on fighting the world economic slump and maintaining security across the globe.

Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko has today questioned the judging at the London Olympics, specifically Katie Taylor’s 10-8 win over Russia’s Sofya Ochigava in the women’s boxing final on Thursday.

Russian track cyclist Victoria Baranova was expelled from the Olympics after failing a pre-games doping test.

Kofi Annan delivered blistering criticism of world powers’ failure to unite over Syria’s escalating violence as he submitted his resignation as special envoy to the country.

Kofi Annan has submitted his resignation as special envoy to Syria, saying he plans to step down on August 31.

The United Nations will vote today on a new British-crafted Syria resolution after a last-minute delay failed to get key Western nations and Russia to agree on measures to end the soaring violence.

More than 100 people have been killed after intense flooding struck in the Black Sea region of southern Russia.

More than 100 people have been killed after intense flooding struck in the Black Sea region of southern Russia.

A strong explosion has rocked the Syrian capital Damascus, sending black smoke billowing into the sky.

Three Syrian attack helicopters which have been refurbished in Russia will be sent back to Syria, Russian defence officials have reportedly said.

North Korean space officials said today that all assembly and preparations for a planned satellite launch have been completed, while denying it is a cover for a missile test.

There was something almost cruel about the way the fixtures fell.

RUSSIAN rescuers scoured the sewer system in the central city of Bryansk yesterday in search for the body of an 18-month baby who tumbled through the ground with his mother when the pavement collapsed.

Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov has placed a £50m valuation on the Edinburgh club as he seeks a buyer.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has banned his employees from celebrating his birthday.

President Dmitry Medvedev has called for rapid changes in Russia’s troubled air transport industry as the country mourned a crash that killed 43 people, among them most of a leading hockey team.

Investigators were today searching for flight recorders in the shattered remains of an airliner that crashed on the banks of the Volga River, killing 43 people including most of one of Russia's premier hockey teams.

Dozens of children are believed to be among 101 people missing after a 56-year-old tourist boat with 188 people on board listed and sank in one of the world’s largest reservoirs.

SIX astronauts were forced to take refuge aboard the International Space Station’s “lifeboat” crafts yesterday, bracing for the threat of a collision with floating space debris, the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, said in a statement.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the E.coli bacteria responsible for a deadly outbreak that has left 18 dead and sickened hundreds in Europe is a new strain that has never been seen before.