A doddering Leonid Brezhnev slurred his way through a New Year's greeting to the Soviet people in 1979, while Mikhail Gorbachev touched on the festive topic of medium-range nuclear missiles in 1988. Grab some "shampanskoye" and "olivye" and join in as RFE/RL takes a look at a few of the more striking season's greetings from Russian and Soviet leaders.
Among the estimated 200 prisoners exchanged by Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas on December 29 were five former members of the now disbanded Berkut special-police force who were suspected of killing protesters in Kyiv in 2014. Their release, and that of some others, has caused controversy and debate.
Twenty years ago, on December 31, 1999, Vladimir Putin became the acting president of Russia. Now serving his fourth term in office, Putin is dealing with a struggling economy, tough Western sanctions, unpopular government reforms, and a drop in his approval rating. Let's take a look at how Russia was doing when Putin took charge and how it's faring today.
Now that we are living in a post-Blade-Runner era, it's worth noting that the coming decade was singled out as a pivotal period by various science-fiction writers and futurologists. As we get the 2020s under way, here's a quick dive into what some forward-looking thinkers in the past thought the coming decade would look like.
Russia has resolved to "adapt" to climate change in the new year by steaming ahead with development plans.
A century after a bitterly disputed episode in Serbian and Montenegrin religious history, Podgorica is trying to take the Serbian Orthodox Church back down a peg.
We know that rferl.org isn't the only website you read, and it's possible that you may have missed some of our most interesting journalism from the past week.
Forty years ago, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan and toppled an allied government. The bloody invasion would set Afghanistan on a path for decades of conflict.
As the world looks ahead to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Team Russia appears to be headed for a seat on the sidelines. But the fight isn't over yet.
A major company with close ties to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon’s family recently announced it was going out of business due dwindling profits. But an investigation by RFE/RL shows the company remains active and continues to seal long-term deals.
As the year draws to a close, let's take a look back at the stories, videos, and photo galleries that most piqued the interest of RFE/RL readers in 2019.
The Abdukadyr family made millions on the back of an illicit Central Asian cargo business. Now we know where the money ended up: exclusive villas, gleaming high-rises, and phantom investments across the world.
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