President Vladimir Putin

The Kremlin critic looked gaunt after a weeks-long prison hunger strike. He appeared as the head of his political network said it was being forced to shut down amid government pressure.

Russia says it will begin a phased reduction of troops from its border with neighboring Ukraine – apparently ending a standoff that had alarmed Kyiv and Western observers.

Demonstrators demanded the release from prison of Kremlin-critic Alexei Navalny, who has been on a hunger strike for three weeks. The marches swept across dozens of cities.

The report says Russian leader Vladimir Putin authorized a campaign to assist former President Donald Trump and undermine Joe Biden, though it was not on the same scale as Moscow's efforts in 2016.

The country's Internet regulator says Twitter has ignored its requests to remove material it considers harmful to children. The move is part of a larger effort to rein in non-Russian social media.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview "We don't want to isolate ourselves from global life, but we have to be ready for that. If you want peace then prepare for war,"

Despite disagreements on many issues, the president and the Russian leader agreed to extend the only remaining U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control deal.

One law would allow for the blocking of foreign websites that it says "discriminate" against Russian media, while another would allow people convicted of slander to be jailed for up to two years.

Vaccination will be voluntary, the Kremlin says, and will begin with health care workers and people with chronic medical conditions. Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is still in clinical trials.

Leaders in the Kremlin and Beijing, as well as in Mexico and Brazil, have conspicuously not congratulated the president-elect, instead waiting for legal challenges to be resolved.