As George Bush and Vladimir Putin meet for the last time as heads of state, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse notes fundamental differences tempered by personal chemistry.

Reporting on the Kremlin is like trying to understand a chess game when unable to see the board, says the BBC's James Rodgers.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says progress is made at talks with Russia's president on Iran's nuclear issue.

The BBC's James Rodgers finds the Moscow metro a mixture of Soviet-era grandeur and free market wheeler-dealing.

The Russian-born cellist and conductor, Mstislav Rostropovich, was one of the world's great musicians.

The grave of Russian author Boris Pasternak, who wrote Dr Zhivago, has been desecrated by vandals.

Ukraine's papers see the nomination of Viktor Yanukovych as PM as a defeat for President Yushchenko.

BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell contrasts the EU's summer holiday with the same period in Westminster, and shines a light on some silly season news stories.

St Petersburg residents from each of the G8 nations assess Russia's role as it prepares to host the G8 summit.

Images of the remote Kazakh town of Kurchatov as it slowly finds new life after the end of Soviet nuclear programme.

Life is returning to the former Soviet nuclear test range at Kurchatov in Kazakhstan, the BBC News website's Robert Greenall reports.

Appeals to Russian parents to have more children are hardly helped by public attitudes to babies, the BBC's Patrick Jackson reports.

Russian electricity boss Anatoly Chubais survives an assassination attempt unhurt.

Chinese entrepreneurs create a mock Russian village in a former Russian outpost in the north-eastern China.

Families who face eviction from their "huts" are hoping to resolve their crisis in the New Year, reports Mike Lloyd.

President Leonid Kuchma's own future is staked on what happens in Ukraine, reports the BBC's Stephen Mulvey.

President Putin has rescued a stricken seagull while on holiday at a southern resort, Russian TV reports.

The Ukrainian leader is taking steps to dismantle a system of "privileged" number plates, semi-official permits and unspoken rules that has until now put the well-connected motorist above the law.

Georgia asks Switzerland to freeze the bank accounts of former regime members.

The BBC's Hugh Fraser asks the lawyer defending Russia's richest man whether he will get fair treatment in his fraud trial.