Russian president Vladimir Putin has called for sanctions against Turkey, following the downing this week of a Russian warplane.

Turkish jets shot down an unidentified drone that flew into Turkey’s airspace at the border with Syria, an incident that comes as Syrian troops under Russian air cover are pressing their offensive against rebels in central and northern Syria.

In the video, one of the guys aims a gun at his friend who is wearing a titanium helmet with bullet-proof glass - it's the same type used by Russian military - and then fires.

The new Ukrainian prime minister has said that embattled Crimea must remain part of Ukraine, but may be granted more local powers.

America’s National Security Agency has implanted secret surveillance software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world — but not in the US — allowing agents to spy on the machines, it is claimed.

International envoy Kofi Annan tried to breathe new life into his moribund peace efforts in Syria, saying he has reached a new framework with President Bashar Assad and would discuss it soon with rebel leaders.

THREATENING Iran with more sanctions would be counterproductive, Russia’s foreign minister declared yesterday, resisting efforts by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to win agreement for tougher measures if Iran fails to prove its nuclear programme is peaceful.

THE freighter that sparked a high-seas mystery when it disappeared nearly three weeks ago has been found by a Russian naval frigate off the West African coast.

A car exploded outside the Russian military’s headquarters in South Ossetia today, killing seven people and wounding three, the government of the Moscow-backed separatist region said.

RUSSIA formally recognised the breakaway territories at the heart of its war with Georgia yesterday, heightening tensions with the west as the United States dispatched a military ship bearing aid to a port city still patrolled by Russian troops.

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

FIFTY battered Russian army trucks and armoured personnel carriers made their way down the highway toward the capital Tbilisi, making it clear that a day-old ceasefire would not keep Russia from moving freely through Georgia.

President Vladimir Putin today said he had ordered the Russian military to resume regular long-range flights of strategic bombers, news agencies reported.

Russia has evacuated all but two staff members and guards from its embassy in Georgia and announced it was suspending planning for further troop withdrawals from its ex-Soviet neighbour.

MILITARY prosecutors and top officers promised a thorough investigation into one of the most brutal bullying incidents reported in the Russian military in years - a soldier who underwent several amputations because of beatings and torture by fellow servicemen.

Military prosecutors and top officers promised a thorough investigation into one of the most brutal bullying incidents to be reported in the Russian military in years – a soldier who underwent several amputations because of beatings and torture by fellow servicemen.

The Russian Cabinet today allocated the equivalent of $6.8bn (€5bn) to buy new weapons next year, and the defence minister reaffirmed the military’s readiness to strike terrorists outside Russia’s borders.

Commandos stormed the Russian siege school today as near-naked children fled the building amid explosions and gunfire.

President Vladimir Putin sacked the military’s chief of general staff and other top brass today, in a move widely expected after a devastating assault by militants in southern Russia last month.

Reaching out to improve relations with Washington, Russia’s lower house of parliament today ratified the latest US-Russian arms control treaty that slashes the nuclear arsenals of both countries by two-thirds.

The Russian military believes President Bush will annnounce a decision to launch a war on Iraq within three weeks.

Russian soldiers in in the breakaway region of Chechnya have opened fire on a passenger bus, killing its driver and wounding four passengers, officials said today.

A Russian soldier under the influence of ‘magic mushrooms’ opened fire on fellow servicemen today, killing at least eight of them and wounding three others.