Corey Flintoff

Igor Girkin claims to have touched off the conflagration, and he says he's proud of what he did. The former member of the Russian security service has a knack for turning up in tumultuous places.

Vladimir Putin's popularity soared after the Winter Olympics and the annexation of Crimea. But his year is ending on a bitter note, with Russia in a deep recession and isolated internationally.

Despite tensions between Russia and the West, Moscow is forging links with far-right, anti-EU parties in Europe. They're attracted to the traditional social values of Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Russian president Vladimir Putin gave his annual press conference on Thursday. He defended his actions in Ukraine, but failed to offer a strategy to cope with the looming financial crisis.

Russian performers who have criticized the country's role in Ukraine have been denounced on TV programs and had concert dates abruptly canceled.

Nearly 30 percent of Russian children with disabilities end up in state orphanages, where they can suffer neglect and abuse at understaffed facilities, according to a human rights group.

Separatists in eastern Ukraine hold their own elections Sunday as part of an effort to create an independent state. Meanwhile, fighting for control of Donetsk's airport continues, despite a ceasefire.

Russia's parliament, the Duma, approved a bill on Friday that would limit foreign ownership of Russian media to less than 20 percent.

Russia's ban on imported foods hasn't stopped its trendiest restaurants from sourcing top-quality ingredients like Italian cheese and Norwegian fish. How? Just slap on a "made in Belarus" label.

It could be the next big spy movie: an Estonian intelligence agent nabbed by Russia on spy charges. Russia says he was spying on them; Estonia says he was kidnapped in a cross-border raid.