Russia

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 eased restrictions on protests in and around the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the Winter Olympics and Paralympics will be held next month, but concerns remain whether local residents complaining about construction can hold rallies.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)--The recent attack which left at least five people dead in Stavropol, in southern Russia, has heightened security fears ahead of the Olympic Winter Games due to take place in the Black Sea resort of Sochi next month. The United States, which will send 250 athletes to compete in the games, says the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will have dozens of people in Moscow and some in Sochi to assist the Russians.

Listen to the BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By BosNewsLife News Center and BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos CHELYABINSK/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- A meteor with the power of an atomic bomb hit central Russia Friday, February 15, injuring more than 750 people and causing damage to buildings across the Ural Mountains, emergency officials said. At least three of those injured the blast are in critical condition, though no deaths have been reported.

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.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- As many as half a million Ukrainians have participated in a pro-European Union rally in the capital Kyiv, where many toppled the statue of late Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and called for the president to step down. Sunday's rally was the biggest demonstration since the pro-freedom Orange Revolution in 2004.

By BosNewsLife News Center with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Russian authorities briefly detained an evangelical pastor and "bulldozed" what was left of his Moscow church complex as part of a wider crackdown on non-Orthodox congregations, a mission group confirmed to BosNewsLife Friday, October 19.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- A congregation of evangelical Christians in Russia's capital Moscow were without a church building Tuesday, September 11, after workers with bulldozers and other equipment destroyed their Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church complex, backed by local police, witnesses said.  

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Budapest BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- Hungary is commemorating its crushed 1956 Revolution against Soviet domination and the 20th anniversary of its declaration as an independent republic, marking the end of communism.

By Peter Fedynsky, reporting from Moscow MOSCOW, RUSSIA (BosNewsLife)-- The second murder of a Russian priest in as many months has prompted a call by the Orthodox Church for Russians to think about their country's spiritual and moral condition.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- An ethnic Polish priest who was abducted by armed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has been freed, but his release did little to ease tensions as Ukrainian government forces advanced to the rebel-held stronghold of Donetsk.