Nato member countries approved a new interim quick-reaction military force yesterday to protect themselves from Russia or other threats, the alliance’s chief said.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the former Soviet Union, Geoffrey Roberts reflects on what led to the collapse of the institution instigated by the Bolsheviks in 1922

THE number of foreign nationals claiming unemployment benefit has increased by almost 100% over the past 12 months.

Russia today denied it illegally annexed the Baltic nations in 1940, rejecting demands from the three former Soviet republics that it admit having illegally occupied them during the Second World War.