The state department seems convinced by photographs collected by Ukraine's government that analyse the weapons, dress and beards of 'green men' appearing with paramilitaries in eastern cities Ukraine's acting president calls for relaunch of anti-terror operation The US state department has claimed Russian special forces are engaged in covert actions in the Ukraine, citing as evidence controversial...
My country's ordeal in 2008 suggests Crimea's referendum is a trick for Russia to cement its territorial and military grip Crimeans vote tomorrow in an illegal "referendum" which will lock them into Russia's embrace. After this vote, and the takeover by Russian troops of the southern Ukraine peninsula, Vladimir Putin will claim he has legal justification for further military build-up...
s takeover of the Crimean peninsula Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula has drawn condemnation from the west, but reaction has been more varied in the 14 former Soviet republics in Russia's "near abroad". Many have played a balancing act between Russia and the west, and almost all have significant Russian-speaking populations – like the one that served as a justification for Moscow's intervention...
s war of words , 5 March). How about this one: reverse the pusillanimous failure to follow the recommendations of a coroner and hold a public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko ( Coroner 'cannot cite Russia' in Litvinenko case , 20 December 2013). This would have the added attractions of providing a measure of justice for Litvinenko's widow and ensuring, albeit belatedly, that the dead...
s post-facto request on Saturday to the upper house of the Russian parliament to approve the use of military forces in Ukraine should not really have come as much of a surprise. There were few who had any doubts that the uniformed men who seized airports on the Crimean peninsula on Friday were Russian forces. The big question, however, is: what does Putin actually want? Attempting to explain the idea...
s rejection of Russia will have great impact in region and describes move as 'failure for Putin' Ukraine's revolution marks a watershed moment in Vladimir Putin's 14-year domination of Russia and its neighbours, Georgia's defence minister said on Thursday. In an interview with the Guardian, Irakli Alasania said that the drama in Kiev over the weekend meant that Ukraine had turned irreversibly towards...
Triumph of Georgy Margvelashvili concentrates power and will make policymaking easier in former Soviet republic A little-known ally of billionaire Georgian prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili won a landslide victory in the country's presidential election on Sunday, cementing the ruling coalition's grip on power after Mikheil Saakashvili's 10-year rule. Georgy Margvelashvili's triumph concentrates power...
s former president says deposed Ukrainian leader had 'no idea about morality' and was brazen in his abuse of office Ukraine's disgraced president, Viktor Yanukovych, used to boast to other heads of state about how corrupt he was, according to Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Yanukovych, who fled Kiev at the weekend and is believed now to be hiding in Crimea, was known for his thuggish...
s vanquishing of outgoing Mikheil Saakashvili Georgia has elected a new president in a vote of confidence for the country's eccentric oligarch prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili. The victory of Ivanishvili's candidate, Giorgi Margvelashvili, in Sunday's presidential election cements the prime minister's triumph over the country's outgoing leader, Mikheil Saakashvili. The pro-western Saakashvili, who...
s successor expected to strengthen rival Bidzina Ivanishvili Georgians are voting on Sunday for a president to succeed Mikheil Saakashvili, who during almost a decade in power has turned the former Soviet republic into a fledgling democracy and a staunch US ally. For Saakashvili, it is a bitter departure. The vote is expected to cement the control of his rival, billionaire prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili,...
s relations with its northern neighbour. This year, exports of Georgian wine and mineral water, under trade embargo since 2006, were allowed back on to the Russian market. More than 10m bottles of wine have made their way across the border since the summer, according to Georgian data. An agreement appears forthcoming that would also allow citrus fruits back into Russia, which would provide a stimulus...
s billionaire prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili looks surprised at the suggestion that he might be a touch sensitive to criticism. "Quite the opposite," he insists, enunciating his words very carefully, in lightly accented Russian. "I really love criticism! Everyone who knows me knows that." Anyone who has followed Georgian politics recently could be forgiven for believing the opposite to be true....
s Anthropological Institute, who worked on the remains. "This is the first complete skull of an adult early Homo. They simply did not exist before," he said. Homo is the genus of great apes that emerged around 2.4m years ago and includes modern humans. Other researchers said the fossil was an extraordinary discovery. "The significance is difficult to overstate. It is stunning in its completeness. This...
The discovery of a cache of fossils suggests that the earliest members of the Homo genus – currently split into half a dozen species – were actually a single species Ian Sample Josh Strauss ...
s motives in controlling South Ossetia Moscow refers to it as "propaganda hysteria" whipped up by Tbilisi . But little by little Russia is nibbling away at Georgian territory. Despite the conciliating gestures of the prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili , who is anxious to normalise relations with his Russian neighbour, the border between Georgia and South Ossetia is definitely moving. Russian troops,...
s five star review of The Artist The Oscar-winning director of The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius, has been shooting his long-awaited follow-up for five weeks in secret. The Search is a remake of the Fred Zinnemann 1948 postwar drama about a mother and son looking for each other in a Nazi concentration camp. Hazanavicius has transferred the story to present day Chechnya, casting The Artist's Bérénice...
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series ...
s extreme geography, a town that in its heyday produced 60% of the world...
Clashes break out during a rally to mark the international day against homophobia in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Friday ...
s politicians consider the geopolitical and economic benefits of closer ties with the European project or Moscow In a flea market in Moldova's capital you can buy busts of Lenin, furry Russian army hats and gold icons. Next door the Russian language theatre is staging several productions of Chekhov. Billboards in Cyrillic proclaim the sponsor: the local Russian embassy. Just round the corner, however,...