A Russian court has jailed six hijackers of the ship Arctic Sea, whose mysterious disappearance with a suspected illicit cargo sparked global concern in 2009.

TOLSTOY: A RUSSIAN LIFE Rosamund Bartlett Profile Books, 544pp, $49.99

On the Eastern Front, German troops were penetrating Russian territory so rapidly it looked as though Petrograd would fall. The Russian Army was in such disarray that it was no longer a factor. The Bolsheviks, who had taken power under Vladimir Lenin the previous November, were trying to end the..read more

BERLIN. The final version of a documentary about jailed Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been stolen from the director's office in Berlin, just days before its world premiere.

RUSSIA, Belarus and Kazakhstan have decided to create a single economic area by 2012, after they set up a customs union due to be implemented next year.