The leader of Orthodox Christians in Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia, has declared that his diocese is breaking with the Patriarchate of Georgia in defiance of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The US President, Barack Obama, has abandoned controversial plans to site a missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The decision is likely to ease tensions in the USA’s relations with Russia.

Orthodox church leaders from Russia and Georgia called for peace while their political counterparts lobbed charges of aggression for the anniversary of the South Ossetia war.

A visit to Ukraine by Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church has laid to rest talk of the need for formal independence of one of the most significant parts of the church, say top aides.

A 10-day trip to the Ukraine by Patriarch Kirill I from the Russian Orthodox Church is set to include visits to a monument established to victims of the Stalin-era famine.

The Prime Minister has been challenged over his allegedly inconsistent approach to nuclear weapons, following an arms reduction agreement between Russia and the USA.

As the US President Barack Obama arrived in Moscow this morning, there were predictions of a significant agreement between the Russian and US governments over a reduction in nuclear warheads.

Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill I has addressed thousands of young people on the dangers of alcoholism and an unchecked market economy as he takes the church to people used to the Kremlin as the biggest institution.

Amnesty International's annual report for 2009, which will be launched on Thursday 28 May from London, will highlight, among other global concerns, continuing investigations into human rights abuses in the Russian Federation.

Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, who served as the Moscow Patriarchate's representative to European organizations in Brussels, has been appointed as head of the Russian Orthodox Church's Department of External Church Relations.