A banner with the words "Putin, leave" and an image of the prime minister's face with a black cross over it appeared Wednesday morning on a billboard above a building adjacent to the Kremlin.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Gazprom said Wednesday that it expects to rake in almost $40 billion in last year's profit, a big increase from 2010 but not enough to stop ExxonMobil from spurting into the lead again as the world's most profitable publicly traded energy company.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

In a possible sign of increased business activity amid the "reset" in U.S.-Russian ties, a U.S. government agency that assists U.S. companies enter and expand in Russia has seen an increase in demand over the past year.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Investigators have opened a large-scale criminal fraud case against the management of one of Russia's largest tour operators, which left more than 3,500 clients stranded in Russia and abroad when it went bankrupt over the weekend.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

The little boy was walking home from school when he spotted the bubble-shaped silver vehicle in the courtyard.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

President Dmitry Medvedev has met rare resistance in the appointment of a new governor, with supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin balking at accepting a candidate tainted with vote-rigging allegations.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the government should introduce incentives for an increase in dairy production as imports grow.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Russia may build a space probe to replace the Fobos-Grunt device that plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, Space Research Institute head Lev Zeleny said Wednesday.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Tabloid news website Life News did not break the law in publishing private telephone conversations of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, because the information contained in the recordings served the public interest, Life News lawyer Tatyana Khokhlova said Wednesday.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

President Dmitry Medvedev accepted Trade and Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko's resignation Wednesday, the Kremlin website reported, as the long-serving minister moves to take the position of head of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

An activist known as Doctor Liza says three bank accounts for her charity have been blocked by tax authorities, an action she suspects is linked to her role in the fair elections-promoting League of Voters.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Winning Russia's March presidential election could be the easy part for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has called for a "decisive tax maneuver" to put the country's increasingly oil-dependent public finances on a more sustainable footing.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

The U.S. State Department plans major changes to a foreign exchange program popular with Russians that has been exploited by unscrupulous labor brokers and organized criminals in the sex industry.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Russia is counting on President Bashar Assad to keep his grip on power to see through potential arms contracts worth up to $6 billion and help Moscow reach a record defense export year, according to the CAST think tank.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

A one-day-old child was left on the ground outside a Moscow apartment building despite a temperature of minus 20 C, before being found and picked up by a passerby.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has dismissed opposition claims that he wants to stay in power as prime minister when his term expires next year, saying his country "can have no Putin."

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

An article on the Odintsovo.info news portal claims that the Moscow region branch of the press ministry sent a memorandum to state-owned news outlets with instructions on how to properly cover a pro-Putin rally, but the ministry denied the claim.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

TNK-BP vice president and UK native Alexander Dodds was hospitalized with a skull fracture after falling from stairs when exiting a plane at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Eighty percent of the cars on Moscow roads at any given time contain only one person, the driver.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Organizers of Saturday's opposition rally gathered Tuesday to set an agenda for the mass march - the third major protest since the disputed State Duma elections in December.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Weapons maker Izhmash has signed a contract to supply its latest shotgun to U.S. law enforcement agencies.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM

Russia's economy grew faster than forecast last year after falling unemployment and record-low inflation helped bolster consumer demand in the fourth quarter.

1/31/2012 3:00:00 PM