Uzbek officials have been using meetings with the European Union to lobby for the lifting of sanctions on Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov and his sister Gulbakhor Ismailova, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the talks. 

The Central Asian country has also signaled readiness to assist the tycoon in his

Russia secretly flew $141 million in cash and Western weapons seized in Ukraine to Iran this summer in exchange for 166 Iranian drones, Sky Newsreported Tuesday, citing an unnamed security source from an unidentified country.

According to Sky News, two Russian military cargo planes landed at a Tehran airport early on Aug. 20 carrying the cash, a

The Kremlin said Wednesday that Moscow's ties with Washington were likely to remain at rock bottom regardless of the results of the U.S. midterm elections, with relations at a historic low over the conflict in Ukraine.

"These elections won't have any significant impact," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies,

The only crematorium in central Russia’s breadbasket region has been forced to shut down due to EU sanctions levied over the invasion of Ukraine, local mediareported Tuesday.

The crematorium in the city of Voronezh south of Moscow cannot replace its broken Czech-made cremation oven due to EU restrictions on the export of high-tech goods and