Last summer, Russia's entire adult population turned into experts on football. It turned out that the head coach of Russia's national team, Fabio Capello, had chosen the wrong team members, used the wrong tactics and failed to properly inspire his Russian players. The interest in football waned by last December, but in its place everyone became an armchair expert on macroeconomics.

NOON AGAINST PUTIN Russians Abroad Take Part in Anti-Putin Election Protest, In Pictures Russians living across the world took part in the anti-Putin protest on the last day of voting in the presidential election. 1 Min read

Ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died after drinking tea poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope, told British police beforehand that President Vladimir Putin was personally behind it, an inquiry into his killing heard on Tuesday. British authorities believe Kremlin-critic Litvinenko was poisoned with green tea laced with polonium-210 at the Pine Bar of the plush Millennium hotel in central London on Nov. 1, 2006 during a meeting with two Russians, Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder pictured in New Zealand in May, 2013. NEW YORK — The U.S. government has unveiled criminal charges against three men for their alleged involvement in a Russian spy ring operating in New York City. Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy conspired to gather economic intelligence on behalf of Russia, including information about U.S. sanctions against the country, and to recruit New York City residents as intelligence sources, prosecutors said Monday.

A car driving past a sign displaying prices in Crimea, where the most expansive gas is 39.99 rubles (59 cents). Despite a recent dip, gasoline prices in Russia are expected to surge this spring on the back of growing demand, prompting fuel shortages and queues at gas stations, analysts said Tuesday.

Russia's intelligence services may have pressured a Western labor union during negotiations with a major aerospace company in 2013 to win favorable terms for a state-owned Russian corporation, according to charges filed against Russian banker Yevgeny Buryakov by U.S. authorities on Monday. In a 26-page U.S.

With a very high grain harvest last year and new state curbs on grain exports, Russia has ample supplies for its population. Russian bread prices may rise in February when suppliers are expected to pass increased production costs on, and the government should consider using food coupons to aid low-income consumers, a lobby group for farmers said.

People walk past boards showing currency exchange rates in Moscow, Jan. 23, 2015. Russian stocks are expected to open sharply weaker on Tuesday, after ratings agency S&P downgraded Russia's sovereign credit rating to 'junk' late Monday, but the ruble could strengthen since it already took a heavy hit in the previous session. S&P cut Russia's rating from BBB- to BB+, citing Russia's weakened economic growth prospects, hit by low oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

Violence in eastern Ukraine is at its worst since a cease-fire was agreed last September. Nine Ukrainian servicemen have been killed in fighting Russian-backed separatists in the past 24 hours, the Kiev military said Tuesday, as rebels fought to encircle a key town straddling transport routes between their two strongholds.

Magnit, a more than 9,700-store chain of mostly low-cost neighborhood stores, voiced confidence on Tuesday it could weather the storm even though its dollar earnings slumped in the fourth quarter on foreign exchange losses. Russia's biggest food retailer, low-cost Magnit said it would continue expanding aggressively despite an economic crisis that could sap consumer spending.

Citizens of Leningrad leaving their houses destroyed by German bombing. A Russian weight-loss group has come under fire after it invited its followers to adopt a food regime based on the rations supplied during the Siege of Leningrad — when 630,000 people died of starvation. The call for a "blockade diet," posted on Facebook on Tuesday by a group named "Get Thin Like Me," was timed to coincide with the 71st anniversary of the city's liberation from a Nazi siege.

A woman from the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk attempted to abduct her ex-husband for a forced kidney donation, state news agency Vesti.ru reported Tuesday. The woman, whom BaltInfo identified as a Sberbank cashier, wanted the kidney for her sick child and believed that the child's father would be the best donor, the agency reported.

A couple suspected of having hired prostitutes to remotely fulfill the sexual fantasies of web cam viewers has been busted in Belarus. A Russian woman and her husband stocked up a rented apartment in Minsk with computers and web cameras, according to a statement released by the Belarussian Investigative Committee. "The suspect was hiring girls, who for money fulfilled any sexual requests clients submitted via the Internet," the statement said.

Even as Russian leaders proclaim the impossibility of isolating Russia and their own unwillingness to see it happen, Russia's movement toward self-imposed isolation is gaining momentum, despite official statements to the contrary. As this country's aggressive and omnipresent state propaganda turns increasingly anti-Western and anti-European, Russian officials and ordinary citizens have begun building a new Iron Curtain.

A Dutch court ruled Tuesday that a Russian national accused by U.S. authorities of playing a role in the theft of 160 million credit and debit card numbers can be extradited to stand trial there, the Bloomberg agency reported. Vladimir Drinkman had sought extradition to Russia, where his young daughter and wife live, news agency AFP reported. His lawyer told Bloomberg they plan to appeal the decision.