On the day when he turned 60 (the retirement age for Russian men), Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an interview to the Central Television program on the NTV television channel. In this interview, the president said he hoped that he enjoyed support of the majority of Russians. He also said he was not against an early release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in case it would not "infringe upon law and order." As for the notorious Pussy Riot girls' band, he said they had got what they were after.

On the day when he turned 60 (the retirement age for Russian men), Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an interview to the Central Television program on the NTV television channel. In this interview, the president said he hoped that he enjoyed support of the majority of Russians. He also said he was not against an early release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in case it would not "infringe upon law and order." As for the notorious Pussy Riot girls' band, he said they had got what they were after.

A Just Russia, which the Kremlin had conceived as an alternative ruling party to draw votes away from the Communists on the left flank, became increasingly oppositional of late.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made a proposal to the leader of the United Russia party faction in the State Duma lower house of parliament, Andrei Vorobyov, to become head of the Moscow region instead of Sergei Shoigu who has been appointed RF Defence Minister.

Inspections at Russian nongovernmental organizations, which the Office of Russia’s Prosecutor General is organizing at the moment, are part of a ‘routine reviewing process’ and they should not give rise to any excesses, the country’s state leaders said in reaction to the apprehensions voiced by human rights activists in Russia and in the West.

Inspections at Russian nongovernmental organizations, which the Office of Russia’s Prosecutor General is organizing at the moment, are part of a ‘routine reviewing process’ and they should not give rise to any excesses, the country’s state leaders said in reaction to the apprehensions voiced by human rights activists in Russia and in the West.

The opposition has no grounds for objecting to the verdict to anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, Russian political scientists told Itar-Tass.

Acting Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin is clear leader by election ratings among other candidates in Moscow mayoral election, opinion pollsters said Tuesday. If the election took place next Sunday, 54% of Muscovites would vote for him, experts of the All Russia Public Opinion Study Center /WCIOM/ told a news conference.

Russia already knows who will win Moscow's mayoral election due to take place in September. On Tuesday, the All Russia Public Opinion Study Center /WCIOM/ announced that 54% of Muscovites were ready to vote for acting mayor Sergei Sobyanin. The intrigue is in who will come second - Opposition activist Alexei Navalny, whose rating reached 9% on "information wave," or Communist nominee Ivan Melnikov. So far, 4% of Muscovites are ready to vote for the latter.

Рейтинг Сергея Собянина достаточно высок, и он опирается на базовый электорат президента Владимира Путина, отмечает Леонид Поляков, член Экспертного совета Фонда развития гражданского общества.