S&P on Monday downgraded Russia’s credit grade to junk status. Rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Russia’s credit rating to the speculative BB+ grade from BBB-. Analysts say that the decision of the rating agency was politically motivated. The speculative level means that securities that a BB+ state issues can only be good for short-term transactions to earn on their... 

A nationalist party MP is suggesting the Russian government introduce more restrictions on food imports, covering nations that have an association agreement with the EU, including Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Roman Khudyakov of the Liberal Democratic Party caucus of the State Duma has said that, since the association agreement with the European Union prepares the conditions for a free trade zone... 

WikiLeaks is speculating the Russian government will trade NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for better relations with the United States. Snowden is wanted on U.S. espionage and theft charges. He was granted a one year term of temporary asylum on August 1, 2013. He was holed up at the Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow for more than a month prior to the Russian government granting asylum. On... 

Why hasn’t Washington joined Russian President Putin in calling for an objective, non-politicized international investigation by experts of the case of the Malaysian jetliner? The Russian government continues to release facts, including satellite photos showing the presence of Ukrainian Buk anti-aircraft missiles in locations from which the airliner could have been brought down by the missile... 

The Russian government says allegations regarding the use of chemicals by forces of the Syrian government are false and fabricated. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that Moscow had proof against the allegations by France and the United States that Syrian forces may have used industrial chemicals on a militant-held village in Hama province this month. “Accusations against... 

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday delivered ​​a report to the deputies of the State Duma on the work of the government in 2013. The report from the head of the cabinet lasted for one hour, ten minutes and was interrupted by applause eight times. In his speech, the Prime Minister spoke about the achievements and challenges in the activities of the government, announced the plans... 

Russia will not start certifying GM seeds for at least three more years due to delays in creating the necessary infrastructure, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told MPs. Earlier Russia had expected to allow planting such seeds from June. The delay comes amid the general GMO-skeptic mood that the Russian government adopted recently. The country may even ban the cultivation and import of genetically... 

The USS Mount Whitney supports maritime security operations with the Georgian coast guard in the Black Sea. The US military will have warships and aircraft available for evacuating American officials and athletes from the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in case of an attack. If necessary, the evacuation of Americans from the Olympics would be coordinated by the US State Department, the Pentagon said... 

Two of the top lawmakers within the United States intelligence community say that Congress is now considering whether any officials in the Russian government have influenced the actions of US National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden. Snowden, 30, has been in the Moscow area since last June when he became stranded there during a layover from Hong Kong after US authorities revoked his American... 

Promises of millions, a new face and detailed instructions on a double-agent conspiracy in Moscow. Bearing the hallmarks of a Cold War spy thriller, Russia’s counterintelligence agency says it caught a CIA officer trying to flip a Russian operative. The Federal Security Service (FSB) Public Relations Center announced that detained individual was Ryan Christopher Fogle, a career diplomat working... 

Russian authorities temporary suspended the import and sale of Monsanto’s genetically-modified corn after a French study suggested it may be linked to cancer. ­The Russia’s consumer-rights regulator Rospotrebnadzor asked scientists at the country’s Institute of Nutrition to review the study. The watchdog has also contacted to European Commission’s Directorate General for Health & Consumers... 

Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, has issued a decree calling for Microsoft to be taken off all government computers and replaced by Linux. While weirdie beardie open saucers will be cheering, it is worthwhile to point out that Putin is jolly cross with Microsoft at the moment. For a while he had a cracking good method of dealing with people who didn’t like him much. Coppers would appear... 

Russian Kids Russia suspended all adoptions to U.S. families Thursday until the two countries can agree on procedures, the Foreign Ministry said, a week after an American woman sent her 7-year-old adopted son back to Russia on a plane by himself. The boy’s return — without supervision or explanation aside from a note he carried from his adoptive mother saying he had psychological problems —...