'All roads lead to Putin': Impeachment ties Ukraine, Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are bringing the impeachment focus back to Russia as they draft formal charges against President Donald Trump. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is connecting the dots — “all roads lead to Putin," she says — and making the argument that Trump’s pressure...

Russian foreign minister to meet with Pompeo in DC next week

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia's foreign minister will visit Washington next week for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. officials said Friday. Pompeo will host Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday for talks that are expected to be followed by a joint news conference, two officials said. It was not immediately...

Russian student given suspended sentence for protest calls

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court on Friday handed a suspended sentence to a student vlogger on charges — widely seen as politically motivated — of inciting protests. Yegor Zhukov, 21, was arrested in August on accusations of making extremist calls on his YouTube vlog. He is among several dozen...

Kosovo leader says EU has double standards on Kosovo, Serbia

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo's president accused the European Union on Friday of maintaining double standards for blocking a visa-free travel deal with his country but opening new chapters in Serbia's integration process despite its affiliation with Russia. Hashim Thaci said Serbia's leader visited...

OPEC countries, Russia to cut oil output, pushing up prices

The OPEC oil-producing countries and ally Russia said Friday they have agreed to cut crude production, prompting a surge in global crude prices that they hope to sustain into next year. The group decided to cut output by an extra 500,000 barrels a day as they try to support the price of energy and bolster their...

OPEC, Russia agree to cut oil production an extra 500,000 barrels a day to support prices

Democrats say Trump impeachment charges must come swiftly

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats moved aggressively to draw up formal articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Thursday, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying he “leaves us no choice” but to act swiftly because he's likely to corrupt the system again unless removed before next...

Germany: 'No understanding' for Russia outrage on expulsions

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff is urging Russia to support the investigation of a killing prosecutors say appears to have ordered by Russian or Chechen authorities, and says he has “no understanding" for outraged reactions from Moscow. Germany expelled two Russian...

Russian supply ship lifts off to International Space Station

MOSCOW (AP) — An automatic Russian supply ship carrying tons of supplies successfully blasted off Friday heading for the International Space Station. The Progress MS-13 cargo ship lifted off as scheduled at 2:34 p.m. (0934 GMT) atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russian space complex in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It...

New Ukrainian leader heads to high-stakes meeting with Putin

MOSCOW (AP) — For new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a summit meeting with Russia, France and Germany marks a decisive moment in his push to end more than five years of fighting with Moscow-backed separatists in the eastern part of his country. While the Kremlin may share that objective, there...