Moscow - Russia called on Friday for North Korea to hold back from testing a long-range missile, warning Pyongyang against an "unnecessary fanning of emotions" in the region.
"The situation now in the North-East Asia region is tense, and it would be better for our partners in North Korea to hold back from this launch ... there is no need for an unnecessary fanning of emotions," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin told journalists.
Denver, Colorado - The International Olympic Committee on Thursday voiced satisfaction with the progress being made by organizers of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Meeting in Denver, Colorado, the IOC heard from French skiing legend Jean-Claude Killy, chairman of the Sochi evaluation committee, that progress in preparing the games in the Black Sea resort city were making satisfactory progress.
Organizers said that construction of venues could begin as soon as May.
Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia - Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen secured the season's World Cup biathlon title with second place in the men's 10-kilometre sprint on Thursday.
It was a sixth overall World Cup win for the 35-year-old who equals the record of Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden.
Race winner in the Siberian venue of Khanty-Mansiysk was Germany's Arnd Peiffer who celebrated a first World Cup race victory.
With two races remaining, Bjoerndalen has an unassailable 978 points, with Tomasz Sikora of Poland on 854 and Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway on 758.
Moscow - Russia views the European Union's pledge to invest in the modernization of Ukraine gas pipeline system as "an unfriendly act" against Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
"What happened in Brussels at the forum, we see as an unfriendly act in relation to Russia by both the European Union and Ukraine," foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told journalists.
Moscow - Russia on Thursday expressed fear the Czech premier's resignation, midway through the country's EU presidency, would "break up" an EU-Russian summit set for May 21-22.
"We very much hope that the Czech domestic political situation does not effect the speed and intensity of the talks between Russian and the EU and does not breakup the full agenda set for the period of the Czech EU presidency - above all at the EU-Russia summit," deputy foreign minister Andrei Nesterenko told journalists.
Moscow - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that an international conference on Afghanistan hosted by Moscow would help coordinate global efforts to stabilize the country.
"These (meetings) are directed at increasing the effectiveness of the international cooperation and in its action to support the Afghan leadership's struggle against the threat of terrorism and drug-trafficking," Lavrov was quoted by news agency Itar-tass as saying after talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart.
Moscow - Russia called on Friday for North Korea to hold back from testing a long-range missile, warning Pyongyang against an "unnecessary fanning of emotions" in the region.
Denver, Colorado - The International Olympic Committee on Thursday voiced satisfaction with the progress being made by organizers of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia - Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen secured the season's World Cup biathlon title with second place in the men's 10-kilometre sprint on Thursday.
Moscow - Russia views the European Union's pledge to invest in the modernization of Ukraine gas pipeline system as "an unfriendly act" against Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
Moscow - Russia on Thursday expressed fear the Czech premier's resignation, midway through the country's EU presidency, would "break up" an EU-Russian summit set for May 21-22.
Moscow - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that an international conference on Afghanistan hosted by Moscow would help coordinate global efforts to stabilize the country.
