Russian President Vladimir Putin joined the congregation for an Orthodox Christmas service in Moscow on Monday evening.

Vladimir Putin has been accused of manufacturing an energy crisis in a breakaway region of Moldova to create instability and exert pressure on Ukraine. Transnistria broke away from the country in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Russia's invasion, which began in February 2022, has also been a source of religious controversy within the Eastern Orthodox Church and has driven a split among believers in both Russia and Ukraine.Vi

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The plunging Russian currency, the ruble, has added to inflationary pressures in Russia, British officials have said, as the country faces further economic turbulence exacerbated by the ending of its natural gas transit deal with Ukraine.

The U.S. secretary of state told the Financial Times that pressure from Beijing dissuaded Vladimir Putin from using nuclear weapons.

Baker, a veteran journalist, offers a deeply sourced investigation into the political economy of the sanctions imposed on Russia following its attack on Ukraine.

Putin and Khrushchev represent two opposing strategic options, neither an offshoot of the unpopular war in Ukraine. For his inspiration, Putin looks back into history, seeking to recreate his Russia über alles vision of imperial glory,

With soaring inflation and the ruble dropping to one of its lowest levels against the dollar since President Vladimir Putin launched his war in Ukraine, this year Russians will have to pay more for the dish, which is traditionally served alongside caviar and tangerines, before the New Year is toasted in.

The patriarch of Russia's Orthodox Church, celebrating Christmas alongside Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, said on Tuesday that the Western world despised Russia and its "alternative path of civilised development".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined Lex Fridman for a three-hour conversation this past weekend, discussing history, a cease-fire, incoming President Trump, Elon Musk and more.