A Russia-nominated director will be given a place on the board of international payments service SWIFT. A Russia-nominated director will be given a place on the board of international payments service SWIFT as a result of its increased use inside Russia, the RBC news website reported Thursday.

The museum will be housed in a cottage on the former Kondratyeva collective farm, where Stalin briefly resided in August 1943. A museum showcasing Soviet leader Josef Stalin's political and military bravado, while disregarding the mass political repression he orchestrated, will open in the Tver region in May, the Meduza news site reported Tuesday.

Russia on Tuesday ended one of its last modes of participation on the 1990 security treaty with Europe. Russia said on Tuesday that it was halting its participation in a consulting group on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, ending one of its last modes of participation on the 1990 security treaty. "The Russian Federation has taken the decision to halt its participation in meetings of the (consulting group) from March 11, 2015.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan chairs a meeting with cabinet ministers at the Presidential Palace in Ankara Mar. 9. ANKARA — Turkish concern about too much dependence on Russian energy and an upcoming election mean Russia's plans for a new gas pipeline to southeastern Europe are unlikely to advance as quickly as Moscow might like, Turkish energy officials said Wednesday.

A job advertisement hanging in a Russian shop window. Anxiety over unemployment or salary cuts has fallen slightly in Russia over the last three months, but 32 percent of people are still either experiencing workplace firings or expect them in the near future, according to a new poll published by the independent Levada Center on Wednesday. The data showed that 18 percent of Russians expect to be forcibly moved to part-time employment and 22 percent expect salary cuts in the coming months.

The United States has asked Vietnam to stop letting Russia use a former U.S. base to refuel nuclear-capable bombers engaged in shows of strength over the Asia-Pacific region, exposing strains in Washington's steadily warming relations with Hanoi. The request, described by a State Department official, comes as U.S. officials say Russian bombers have stepped up flights in a region already rife with tensions between China, U.S.-ally Japan and Southeast Asian nations.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Wednesday he hoped talks on natural gas supplies would take place with European partners and Russia on March 20. "I hope on the 20th there will be talks with European partners with the participation of Russia to reach an agreement on supplies of natural gas in the summer period," he said in a government meeting.

Russia's second-biggest mobile phone operator MegaFon said on Wednesday that it expected revenues to be flat this year after a 5.9 percent rise in 2014 as the country lurches into recession. The company forecast a core profit margin at or above 40 percent, compared to 44 percent in 2014, and said it was committed to its earlier outlook for capital spending. "2015 will likely be a challenging year for MegaFon.

North Korea has declared 2015 a "year of friendship" with Russia amid efforts to boost ties and cultural exchange as the countries mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, North Korea's official news agency was quoted as saying Wednesday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend an official ceremony in Moscow on May 9 to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II due to tensions of the Ukraine crisis, government officials said on Wednesday. "In light of the developments in Ukraine, it is impossible for Merkel to take part in the traditional military parade on Red Square," a government official said.

The U.S. has accused Russia of sending more military equipment to separatists in eastern Ukraine. WASHINGTON — The United States targeted eight Ukrainian separatists and a Russian bank with sanctions and announced more non-lethal aid for Ukraine on Wednesday after accusing Russian-backed rebels of breaking a European-brokered cease-fire.

A suspected Russian gang leader has been arrested in Thailand at the request of the Russian branch of Interpol, state news agency RIA Novosti reported Wednesday. Sergei Kovalenko, who is accused of founding a criminal gang in Siberia's Kemerovo region in the late 2000s, was nabbed in the Thai resort of Pattaya on Tuesday night, the news agency reported, citing Vladimir Sosnov, head of the Russian Embassy's consular division in Thailand.

Russia has the right to deploy nuclear arms in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine last year, a Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday, adding he knew of no plans to do so. "I don't know if there are nuclear weapons there now. I don't know about any plans, but in principle Russia can do it," said Mikhail Ulyanovsk, the head of the ministry's department on arms control, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

President Vladimir Putin has postponed a visit to Kazakhstan, a spokesman for the Kazakh president said Wednesday. "The meeting in Astana has been postponed," Dauren Abayev, adviser and spokesman for Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said. He declined to give a reason for the delay to the meeting planned between the allies for this week, or say when it would now take place. A Kazakh government source said earlier that Putin's visit had been put off possibly due to illness.

Russia's giant Vostochny Cosmodrome building project faces having its electricity supply cut over unpaid bills, news reports said Wednesday, one day after a deputy prime minister overseeing the project threatened to "rip off the heads" of construction managers found guilty of corruption. The 150 billion ruble ($2.4 billion) cosmodrome project has been mired in embezzlement allegations since work began in 2011, and spaceport's completion date has been delayed.