Russian president Vladimir Putin is to honour an Irish charity boss with one of his country’s highest humanitarian awards.

President Vladimir Putin delivered a robust defence of Russia’s actions in Crimea and said he would use force in Ukraine only as a last resort, easing market fears yesterday that East-West tension over the former Soviet republic could lead to war.

President Vladimir Putin has pulled his forces back from the Ukrainian border yet said Moscow reserves the right to use all means to protect Russians in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops participating in military exercises near Ukraine’s border to return to their base today as US Secretary of State John Kerry was on his way to Kiev.

An exploration company backed by the 20-year-old son of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has agreed a $180m deal to buy a gas and oil field in Russia.

A Russian airliner that crashed shortly after take-off killing 31 on board had not been properly de-iced, the country's civil aviation head said tonight.

Heavy snow and a severe cold snap killed at least 36 people across eastern Europe yesterday as schools closed, roads became impassible, and power supplies were cut.

A Russian woman claims to have been keeping an alien in her fridge for two years.

“WITHOUT her, I wouldn’t be here.”

AN Irishwoman whose charity has helped thousands of seriously ill children in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster has been awarded Ukraine’s highest humanitarian award.

Ukraine is preparing to mark 25 years since the Chernobyl power station exploded in the world’s worst nuclear accident.

Widespread fear that Japan’s nuclear crisis could send radioactive fallout Russia’s way is proving a bonanza for shops selling everything from face masks and iodine to vodka and wine.

SOMETIMES odd birds turn up in people’s gardens.

Difficulties and delays in restoring electricity to hundreds of Russian villages after freezing rain broke power lines has caused a political scandal in Moscow.

The Founder of Chernobyl Ireland, Adi Roche, has said that she is hopeful that 50 children, who are due here later as part of the Christmas programme, will arrive as planned.

SECOND World War Katyn massacres were committed on the direct order of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Russia’s lower house of parliament said yesterday — a statement hailed by Polish officials.

The Second World War Katyn massacres were committed on the direct order of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Russia’s lower house of parliament said today – a statement hailed by Polish officials.

A cold front has hit western Russia, finally ending an exhausting two-month heatwave and clearing skies over Moscow from suffocating smog.

Charles J Hanley reports from New York on the troubling signs of climate change and efforts to cope

DEATHS in Moscow have doubled to an average of 700 people a day as the Russian capital is engulfed by poisonous smog from wildfires and a sweltering heat wave, a top health official said yesterday.

Dozens of flights had to be diverted from Moscow today because of dense smog from wildfires shrouding the city.

WILDFIRES were raging close to a shelter housing hundreds of dogs and retired circus animals, animal activists said yesterday, as the death toll from weeks of blazes across Russia rose to 50.

Wildfires were raging close to a shelter housing hundreds of dogs and retired circus animals today as the death toll from weeks of blazes across Russia rose to 50.

Fears grew today that there are not enough crews to battle the devastating wildfires sweeping western Russia, as the country’s emergency chief said some were out of control.

A total of 34 people were killed in the recent wave of wildfires which have destroyed hundreds of homes, Russian officials revealed today.

THE election of Bronislaw Komorowski’s as president offered Poland’s pro-business ruling party an opportunity but also a challenge, as it prepared to govern without a hostile head of state.

THE election of Bronislaw Komorowski’s as president offered Poland’s pro-business ruling party an opportunity but also a challenge, as it prepared to govern without the obstacle of a hostile head of state.

Poles were today voting in a presidential run-off election which pits the identical twin brother of the last head of state, who was killed in a plane crash, against the acting president.

JAROSLAW Kaczynski, a leading candidate in Poland’s presidential election, interrupted the last day of campaigning yesterday to visit the grave of his identical twin – the leader whose death in a plane crash forced the early vote.

British, French and US troops strode across Red Square for the first time today in a Victory Day parade marked both by the usual impressive display of Russia’s military might and by an unusual emphasis on international co-operation.

THE Speaker of Poland’s parliament has set the date for a presidential election following the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash.

The Speaker of Poland’s parliament has set the date for a presidential election following the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash 11 days ago.

POLAND steeled itself yesterday for a return to political wrangling after burying president Lech Kaczynski, as hundreds of mourners bid a final farewell at his tomb.

The deputy head of Poland’s Protestant Church was killed in a car accident while returning home from state funeral ceremonies for President Lech Kaczynski, the church said today.

Church bells across Poland have tolled and an emergency siren has wailed to mark the minute a week ago that a plane crashed in western Russia, killing Poland's president, his wife and many of the country's civilian and military elite.

Poland will wait until after Sunday’s state funeral for President Lech Kaczynski to decide when to hold an early election to replace him.

Thousands of mourners threw flowers on a slow-moving hearse and joined an enormous viewing line at Warsaw’s Presidential Palace to pay their respects to Lech Kaczynski and his wife as their bodies lay in state.

POLAND’S acting president vowed to move swiftly to set an election date and remove uncertainty after the deaths of President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of other high-ranking officials in a plane crash.

Poles wept before their televisions, lowered flags to half-mast and taped black ribbons in their windows after hearing that President Lech Kaczynski and the upper echelons of the establishment lay dead in woods a short drive from the site of the Katyn forest massacre, where 22,000 Polish officers were killed by Soviet secret police in one of Poland’s greatest national traumas.

A week of national mourning has been declared in Poland after the country's President died in a plane crash.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife died today along with 130 others when their plane crashed while coming in for a landing in western Russia, officials said.

It is being reported that a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski has crashed, with 87 people feared dead.

The anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster will be marked this week by highlighting the plight of millions of people living in the aftermath of the catastrophe.

Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan will make a road trip to Russia later this year in a bid to raise awareness and funds for Irish based charity To Russia with Love.