Ukraine is launching a “large-scale anti-terrorist operation” to resist attacks of armed pro-Russian forces, Ukraine’s President Oleksandr Turchynov said in a televised address.

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden will have to stop leaking US secrets if he wants to get asylum in Russia, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday — but he believes he has no intention of doing so.

Secrets whistleblower Edward Snowden has asked for asylum in Russia, according to a Russian consular official.

Russia is to expel a US diplomat it claims was caught disguised in a blond wig while trying to recruit a Russian agent in Moscow.

Russia has warned Britain it will respond tit-for-tat if London imposes any travel restrictions on Russian officials.

Italy has become the first EU country to recall its ambassador to Syria in protest at the repression of anti-government demonstrations and urged other nations do the same.

Russia’s foreign ministry has angrily rejected Western criticism of jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s conviction in a second criminal case, saying it amounted to pressuring the court.

THE US and Russia orchestrated the largest spy swap since the Cold War, exchanging 10 spies arrested in the US for four convicted in Russia in a tightly choreographed diplomatic dance yesterday at Vienna’s airport.

RUSSIA insisted yesterday its nuclear arsenal is secure, angrily rejecting US allegations that tens of thousands of aging Soviet weapons may not be fully accounted for.

Uncertainty remained in the troubled region of Georgia today as a ceasefire agreement awaited signature by the Russian president.

Georgia pulled its embattled troops out of the disputed province of South Ossetia and agreed to a ceasefire today, submitting to Russia’s far superior firepower.

Georgia today announced a ceasefire in the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Mikhail Saakashvili was re-elected as Georgia’s president with 52.8% of the vote, election officials said tonight.

The Russian Foreign Ministry today expressed surprise that Russia was being accused of refusing to cooperate with Britain in the fight against terrorism, saying it was Britain that took the first “unfriendly” step.

Russian news agency Interfax has reported that Russia is expelling four British diplomats, citing the Foreign Ministry.

Republic of Georgia authorities, helped by the CIA, set up a sting operation that led to the arrest of Russian who tried to sell nuclear-bomb grade uranium in a plastic bag in his jacket pocket, a government minister revealed today.

Georgia today charged four Russian officers with spying and a court was to decide later whether they should continue to be held in custody as relations between the two ex-Soviet neighbours plummeted to a new low.

An al-Qaida-led insurgent group said in a website statement today that it had decided to kill four kidnapped Russian Embassy workers after a deadline for meeting its demands passed.

A Russian Embassy official in Baghdad said today that one diplomat was killed and four diplomatic employees were abducted in the Iraqi capital.

Nato foreign ministers today considered proposals for strengthening support for African peacekeepers struggling to contain political and ethnic violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The Russian Foreign Ministry today said it had received Slobodan Milosevic’s letter complaining of inadequate treatment and asking for help in getting permission to undergo treatment in Moscow.

The European Union has backed away from a direct push to refer Iran to the UN Security Council this week and is now only implicitly threatening Tehran with such action, according to a document obtained today.

Russia and the European Union have reached final agreement on a wide-ranging partnership accord that is to be unveiled at a summit in Moscow today, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Russia is making final preparations to hold nationwide celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the World War II victory over Nazi Germany.

A top anti-Syria Lebanese opposition leader headed to Moscow today for talks on the scaling back of Syria’s military presence in his country, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims trekked to a temple in the southern republic of Kalmykia today to join prayers led by the Dalai Lama on his first visit to Russia after years of being denied entry.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is to seek the extradition of a rebel Chechen who has been granted political asylum in Britain.

US troops captured a key lieutenant of Iraqi rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr during overnight clashes in Najaf that killed 24 people and wounded nearly 50.

RUSSIA will expel a Latvian diplomat, the Foreign Ministry said today, in what was thought to be a retaliatory move for the recent expulsion of a Russian diplomat from the Baltic country.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said today that eight Russian workers have been kidnapped in Iraq, the Interfax news agency reported.

A convoy of Russian diplomats came under fire Sunday as they were evacuating Baghdad, the Kremlin said.

Saddam Hussein promised a Russian envoy that international inspectors will not be hindered in their work, the Russian Foreign Ministry today.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is to expel four American Embassy officials for activities "incompatible with diplomatic status", a euphemism for espionage.

Claims that the US built a tunnel under the Soviet Embassy in Washington to eavesdrop have angered Russia.