Azerbaijan released the local bureau chief of Russia’s state-owned news outlet Sputnik following high-level negotiations with Moscow, the Kommersant business newspaperreported on Thursday, citing Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov.

Russia is amassing nuclear weapons and attack submarines in the Arctic Circle as it prepares for war with Nato, Norway’s defence minister has warned.

"Eventually the administration decided it's not enough to just use carrots to pressure Putin, you also need sticks," one analyst said.

Russia has grappled with a shrinking and aging population for decades, with President Vladimir Putin viewing it as a threat to national security.

A court in Azerbaijan said on Friday a senior Russian journalist could leave jail and be placed under house arrest for three months instead amid an ongoing investigation into his employer, the Russian state-owned outlet Sputnik Azerbaijan.

Russia is increasingly outsourcing its war in Ukraine. To offset record losses and dwindling recruitment, Moscow is importing manpower from abroad. According to press statements by Ukrainian officials, as many as 25,000 Cubans could soon be fighting for Russia, overtaking North Koreans as the largest contingent of foreign troops on the battlefield.

The European Union on Thursday heaped more economic sanctions on Russia, adding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new punitive measures the previous day against the Russian oil industry. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Washington's move an “unfriendly act” that could backfire by spiking global oil prices.

ISLAMABAD: Russia and Pakistan are close to signing agreements to strengthen media partnership and information exchange.

A new report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) suggests that major AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, DeepSeek, and Elon Musk’s Grok are unintentionally spreading Russian state propaganda.

MOSCOW, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Indian pharmaceutical company Hetero will manufacture over 100 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine per year under the terms of a deal unveiled on Friday between it and Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country has tested a new, nuclear-capable missile and is preparing to deploy it.