Russia

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Ukraine's minority Tatars are are bracing for a breakaway vote in the Crimean Peninsula amid the biggest East-West confrontation since the Cold War.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- New revelations show the late designer of the world's most famous rifle feared he was guilty for the many deaths caused by his weapon. Mikhail Kalashnikov expressed his concerns shortly before he died in a letter to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. His iconic AK-47 rifle, better known as Kalashnikov, has been the weapon of choice for guerrilla forces, terrorists and military groups in the Balkans and around the world.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Ukraine has released what it says are intercepted phone calls in which pro-Russian separatists admit to shooting down a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane, killing all 298 people on board. The Boeing 777 went down in eastern Ukraine while on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Most of the victims, 293 according to Dutch officials, came from the Netherlands.

Listen to this report from Stefan Bos:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BERLIN/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- After his release from a Russian jail, former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has said he does not want to return to business or politics, but would fight for those he considers political prisoners. Wearing a sharp suit and smiling, the now 50-year-old Khodorkovsky spoke at his first news conference since his release from prison, which was held at a museum commemorating the Berlin Wall from the Cold War era.

Listen to BosNewsLife via Vatican Radio: By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin was re-elected with at least nearly 58 percent of the vote in the first direct mayoral election in a decade, though he faced an opposition challenge

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent KYIV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- The national bishop of Ukraine's largest Pentecostal-Charismatic denomination, has been freed after being abducted by suspected pro-Russian separatists, his brother and a mission group leader confirmed Saturday, May 17.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife  KYIV/AMSTERDAM (BosNewsLife)-- Ukraine has ordered the withdrawal of all its forces from Crimea, following the Russian takeover of the peninsula. Monday's announcement came while Western concerns over Ukraine was expected to dominate a nuclear security summit in the Netherlands.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News Report via Vatican Radio:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered new security measures across Russia following two suicide attacks killed dozens of people within two days in the southern city of Volgograd.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MAKHACHKALA/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- The pastor of the largest Pentecostal church in Russia's violent, mainly Muslim republic of Dagestan, has died after being shot in the head, in an apparent bid to intimidate converts from Islam, Christian rights activists and police said Friday, July 16.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest with reports from Moscow MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- As protesters demanding more freedom and fair elections prepared to demonstrate in freezing temperatures in Moscow Saturday, February 4, a major Russian mission group warned of more difficulties for evangelical Christians and other, religious, minorities in Russia and other former Soviet Union nations.