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Moscow (AFP) Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to parliament a number of new constitutional changes, including amendments that mention God and stipulate that marriage is a union of a man and woman. Putin in January unleashed a political storm by proposing an overhaul of the constitution, the first changes to the basic law since 1993. Last month the Russian parliament's lower house unanimously approved the constitutional reform bill in a first reading after less than two hours of debate. Ahead of a second and key reading set for next week, Putin submitted 24 pages worth of amendments, said State...

Russia could regain its status as “a global rival” for Western powers through some degree of “integration” with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said... Putin made the comment while reiterating his belief that Ukrainians and Russians are “the same people,” a claim widely perceived as a means to justify Russian influence over former Soviet nations. His reference to “integration” is even more unusual, and incendiary, according to Western analysts, given that the two countries have been locked in conflict since Russia’s annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine in 2014... Multiple Western analysts noted that Putin has been pressuring Belarus...

[Subtitle: “I hope that my story will help you understand the methods of Russian operatives in Washington and how they use U.S. enablers to achieve major foreign policy goals without disclosing those interests,” Browder writes.]The financier Bill Browder has emerged as an unlikely central player in the ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Sergei Magnitsky, an attorney Browder hired to investigate official corruption, died in Russian custody in 2009. Congress subsequently imposed sanctions on the officials it held responsible for his death, passing the Magnitsky Act in 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government retaliated, among other ways,...

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia would not legalize gay marriage as long as he was in the Kremlin. He made clear he would not allow the traditional notion of mother and father to be subverted by what he called “parent number 1” and “parent number 2”. “As far as ‘parent number 1’ and ‘parent number 2’ goes, I’ve already spoken publicly about this and I’ll repeat it again: as long as I’m president this will not happen. There will be dad and mum,” Putin said. During his two decades in power, Putin has closely aligned himself with the...

Novo-Ogaryovo, February 13, Interfax - Russian President Vladimir Putin said that as long as he remains in office, Russia will not legitimize same-sex marriages. "As concerns Parent No. 1 and Parent No. 2, I've said publicly some time ago, and I'll repeat once again now: as long as I am president, we won't have parents number one and number two, we will have Mom and Dad," Putin said at a meeting with members of a working group for preparing constitutional amendments on Thursday. State Duma deputy Olga Batalina said at the meeting that the working group had received numerous proposals...

There have been several clashes between Syrian and Turkish military forces in the last two weeks, as Syria attempts to retake Idlib province from rebel forces. Turkey has carved out a demilitarized zone in Idlib, which is supposed to be a safe zone for Syrian civilians. Their goal is to prevent a flood of refugees from crossing the Syrian border.But Syria is ignoring the Moscow-negotiated cease-fire and driving hundreds of thousands of refugees toward Turkey, most of them in desperate straits. The UN is warning of a humanitarian catastrophe as 700,000 Syrians are on the move with nowhere to...

The pace of growth in the Russian economy fell by almost half last year, fresh economic data released Monday has shown. Russia’s GDP grew by 1.3% in 2019, the Russian state statistics agency, Rosstat said. That compares with an official expansion rate of 2.5% recorded in 2018, and is the weakest annual growth since Russia emerged from economic crisis in 2016. Despite the slow-down, the economy did pick up in the final half of the year, managing to beat pessimistic forecasts from organizations such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) that had suggested Russia would struggle to...

The Kremlin reacted with fury on Tuesday after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Soviet collusion with Nazi Germany led to the outbreak of World War II. While visiting Poland on Monday to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz death camp, Zelensky said the Poles “were the first to feel the consequences of the criminal collusion of the totalitarian regimes.” Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and carved up Poland in September 1939 under a secret clause of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Nazi invasion prompted Britain and France to declare war on Germany. “We categorically disagree with...

The new political season in Russia began with serious transformations of the internal political configuration. President Vladimir Putin announced the preparation of constitutional amendments. After that, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev declared the dissolution of the government. Clarity of action and quick personnel shifts show that these decisions of the Russian leader were the result of long-term planning. Most Western experts agree that the main motivation is Putin’s desire to maintain power after 2024 when his presidency expires. However, after analyzing the dynamics of the country's domestic policy over the past ten years, it becomes obvious that the reasons for these...

The Russia watcher community is up in arms. On Jan. 15, in his state-of-the-nation address to the Russian parliament, President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly proposed a series of constitutional changes that appear to strengthen the role of parliament and elevate the status of the prime minister in the political system. The surprise is understandable. Changing the Constitution is something we would expect from Putin: after all, how else would he stay in power beyond his second term that ends in 2024? But there are less roundabout ways of getting there — scrapping the two-term limit on the presidency is one. Given...

Despite its cool Green parties and ambitious wind and solar agendas, Europe remains by far the world’s largest importer of oil and natural gas. Oil output in the North Sea and off the coast of Norway is declining, and the European Union is quietly looking for fossil fuel energy anywhere it can find it. Europe itself is naturally rich in fossil fuels. It likely has more reserves of shale gas than the United States, currently the world’s largest producer of both oil and natural gas. Yet in most European countries, horizontal drilling and fracking to extract gas and oil are...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has added Zakhar Prylepin, Russian writer and Donbas fighter to the so-called 'working group' for the constitutional amendments he announced on 15 January. Prylepin's inclusion is a grave affront to all Ukrainians, however the changes Putin is planning are likely to have even more serious ramifications for Ukraine. While well-known Ukrainian journalist Vitaly Portnikov is doubtless correct in saying that Putin's plans are akin to a declaration of war against Ukraine, they are also an assault on international law and, therefore, a challenge to the European structures and leaders who are increasingly seeking so-called 'dialogue' with...

Russia's government has resigned, hours after President Vladimir Putin proposed sweeping constitutional changes that could prolong his stay in power. PM Dmitry Medvedev said the president's proposals would significantly change Russia's balance of power. Mr Putin asked Mr Medvedev to become deputy head of the National Security Council, which is chaired by Mr Putin. The president later nominated tax service chief Mikhail Mishustin to replace Mr Medvedev as prime minister. The unexpected announcement comes four years before Mr Putin's fourth term of office is due to end. Under the existing constitution, he would not be entitled to another term. The...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attend a meeting with members of the government in Moscow, Russia January 15, 2020. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS

The Russian government resigned Wednesday, according to multiple reports. Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev announced the resignations after the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, delivered his yearly state-of-the-union address, RT reported. In a meeting of ministers after the resignations, Putin thanked Medvedev’s government, CNBC reported citing state news agency TASS.

Russia's prime minister and its entire government resigned on Wednesday as part of sweeping constitutional changes that could see President Vladimir Putin extend his hold on power.

A video has surfaced of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad laughing about President Trump during Putin's visit to Damascus last week. The video, originally posted by a journalist for the Komsomolskaya Pravda, comes just over a month after multiple NATO nation leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron, were recorded seemingly mocking the American president at a NATO summit. In the latest clip, Assad and Putin joked that Trump should follow in the footsteps of Paul the Apostle and visit the Syrian capital of Damascus. "If Trump arrives along this road...

France and Russia have a shared desire to safeguard Iran's nuclear deal, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. Macron said in a statement he had a phone call on Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Leaders of Britain, France and Germany on Sunday called on Iran to return to full compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and refrain from further violence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked on Saturday whether mercenaries known as the Wagner Group were fighting in Libya, said that if there are Russians in Libya, they are not representing the Russian state, nor are they paid by the state. Russian private military contractors have clandestinely fought in support of Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine, Reuters and other media have previously reported. The contractors are recruited by a private military group known as Wagner Group whose members are mostly ex-service personnel. The Russian state denies it uses mercenaries abroad. During a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is ratcheting up his condemnation of President Trump's order that lead to the death of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, comparing the killing to Russian President Vladimir Putin "assassinating dissidents." Sanders, who was one of the first 2020 Democrats to call Trump's airstrike on Soleimani an "assassination," lobbed harsh criticism against the Trump administration for the killing. "This guy, you know, was, as bad as he was, an official of the Iranian government," Sanders said of Soleimani, in the CNN interview. "And, you unleash -- then, if China does that, you know, if Russia does that, you...