Businessman Dmitry Kovtun displays documents, which he says are files of the criminal investigation, during a news conference in Moscow, April 8, 2015. One of two Russians accused of poisoning ex-Soviet spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 said Wednesday the former KGB officer may have killed himself accidentally while handling radioactive polonium.

The idea of building a cosmodrome in the Far East first arose in 1996 when the Russian government first became concerned that Russia's space program relied entirely on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in what is now a different country. And when Russia began the long process of developing the new Angara family of launch vehicles in 1995, it also became clear that the country would need a new launch complex at a geographically suitable location.

Pipelines to be laid to transport oil to Vankor are seen at the Rosneft company owned Suzunskoye oil field, north from the Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. VANKOR / SUZUN OIL FIELDS — Russia's freezing north has never been the most welcoming place for foreign travelers, and its onshore oil riches have always been state secrets. But when the order comes from the Kremlin to open up, people obey.

Russia's Investigative Committee has reportedly demanded explanations about government subsidies to media that support opposition positions after a pro-Kremlin daily accused a government agency of supporting publications that pursue “clearly anti-state” policies.

Customer looks at cars at a showroom in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Russia's car market shrank 42.5 percent this March as carmakers struggled with ruble devaluation, oncoming recession and a saturated market, according to market data released Wednesday. March sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles were 139,850 vehicles, down from 103,482 vehicles in March last year, said the Association for European Businesses (AEB), a lobby group that monitors the market.

An Amsterdam court ruled Wednesday that the Dutch government cannot participate in a legal fight over golden artefacts from Crimea. The priceless artefacts had been on loan to the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014. Now both the state of Ukraine and the Russian-controlled Crimean museums that lent most of the objects are demanding their return.

Following the success of Andrei Zvyagintsev's film Leviathan, which many critics said gave a stark portrayal of Russian life, state-run pollster VTsIOM asked Russians what they thought about how Russia should be portrayed on the screen and whether the state should support critical films. The poll published Wednesday questioned 1600 people between Feb. 14-15 in 46 Russian regions. The margin of error did not exceed 3.5 percent.

Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev shakes hand with Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha after a news conference at Government House in Bangkok, April 8, 2015. BANGKOK, Thailand — Russia sees an opportunity to sell Thai military planes and other defense equipment, Russia's Trade Minister said Wednesday, as the two countries facing Western opprobrium seek to boost trade ties.

Authorities have previously canceled concerts by Noize MC in the Russian cities of Samara, Kursk and Belgorod. Authorities in Russia's southern city of Krasnodar will be scrutinizing a concert Friday by rapper Noize MC for signs of extremism after he criticized Russia's involvement in the Ukraine crisis at a performance in the region last year, regional prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday.

U.S. President Barack Obama Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov scoffed at a CNN report that claimed Russian hackers may have breached the White House's computer system and accessed sensitive information pertaining to U.S. President Barack Obama, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday. “We know that blaming Russia for everything has turned into a sport,” Peskov told journalists when asked about the allegations, RIA reported.

Lokomotiv Moscow fans cheer for their team during their football match against Dinamo Moscow. Anti-racism inspectors will patrol Russian Premier League matches by the end of the current football season, the TASS news agency reported Wednesday. The Russian Football Union (RFU) created the position of anti-racism inspector last month in an effort to thwart xenophobia among some of its fans.

Russian ruble and U.S. dollar notes are stuffed into a replica of the Kremlin. While the Russian government is trying to involve itself in more economic spheres, the state is failing to perform its basic functions and corruption has swelled to levels “unimaginable” during the heydays of previous administrations, the head of Russia's second-largest bank said at an international conference on economic development on Tuesday.

Under more recent amendments to the law, the Justice Ministry can now relegate NGOs to the “foreign agent” list without their consent.

It is far too early to assume last week's framework agreement between Iran and the six world powers will lead to a permanent deal governing how Iran develops its nuclear industry. But while all sides acknowledge the difficulties still to be tackled, there is a very good chance that a permanent deal may be put in place in the summer and sanctions against the country may start to unwind from later this year or next.

Kozvlovsky, left, plays Yermolai Lopakhin in “The Cherry Orchard,” which has seven Golden Mask nods and was at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater. We could hardly call it the Golden Mask Festival were a production by Lev Dodin and his Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg not participating. Dodin's entry this year, Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," has come and gone for Moscow spectators, although the festival itself still runs strong. There are eight more days to go.