Russia

Listen to this BosNewsLife via Vatican Radio:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)--Russian President Vladimir Putin has received parliamentary approval for military action in neighboring Ukraine, where thousands of Russian forces have landed on the Crimean Peninsula. It comes amid tensions elsewhere including in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv where dozens were injured when a pro-Russian protest turned violent, with demonstrators trying to storm the local government building.

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.

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 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.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Initial election results of Sunday's blood-stained referendum in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region claim nearly nine out of 10 voters want to breakaway from the country.

Listen to this BosNewsLife report via Vatican Radio: By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Tensions are rising in Moscow after an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed a narrow victory in Sunday's mayoral race, while a leading opposition candidate demanded a second election round for the Russian capital's top job.

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Baptists in the Russian town of Lipetsk south-east of Moscow say local authorities are using "a bureaucratic way" to restrict their activities, BosNewsLife monitored Wednesday, December 3.

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 OSWIECIM, POLAND (BosNewsLife)-- Government leaders and survivors are among those marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation by Soviet forces of Nazi-death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in ceremonies overshadowed by new concerns over rising anti-Semitism in Europe, and a row between Poland and Russia. Tuesday's event in Poland was expected to be the last big anniversary in which remaining elderly survivors would be able to come and pay their respects at the former camp, which became a symbol of the Holocaust.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- The NATO military alliance has come under pressure to increase security as hundreds of thousands of people flee battles between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine.