U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to hold a high-stakes telephone call on Saturday to discuss mounting tensions over Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says Russian President Vladimir Putin told him that Moscow would not further escalate the Ukraine crisis.
Senior U.S. and Russian officials have formally launched special talks on strategic stability as part of a flurry of diplomatic activity in Europe this week.
Russia so far has been relatively spared by the outbreak, with 1,836 cases and nine deaths, but the past few days have seen an increase in the number of cases.
The Russian security service is offering a $50 million reward for information on who downed a plane in Egypt last month according to the Associated Press.
MOSCOW (AP) — At the vast skating rink in Moscow's Gorky Park, Russians say they're looking forward to a 2015 that will be as smooth as the ice, despite the country's economic and political difficulties. The ruble has sunk, tensions with the West are up, but the troubles seem to have produced a surge in national pride.