Corey Flintoff

The woman, Nadezhda Savchenko, was a military pilot captured during the war in Eastern Ukraine, and her case has become a symbol of the conflict between the two countries.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians fled to Russia when fighting began in 2014. The welcome they received has cooled as Russia's economy sags, and very few have been granted formal refugee status.

Retirees and those aspiring to join the middle class are struggling to make ends meet as the value of the ruble has fallen along with world oil prices. But Putin's government is doing little to help.

Two years ago, a news crew for Russian state TV was hit by mortar fire, a soundman and reporter were killed. On trial for their murder is a female military pilot serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan was once seen as a dynamic economic hub. Like other nations almost totally dependent on oil revenues, it's feeling the effects of the recent drop in prices.

Cooperation is rare these days between Washington and Moscow. But the U.S. Embassy handed over 28 historical documents that had disappeared in the tumultuous years following the Soviet breakup.

In Russia, relatively few people seem to be following the U.S. presidential election campaigns closely, but most people know the names of the front-runners.

The poster at a Moscow bus stop read: "Smoking kills more people than Obama, although Obama kills a lot of people. Don't smoke! Don't be like Obama!" No one has claimed responsibility for it.

While warmer weather might make farming possible in cold regions such as Siberia, it's already causing havoc on existing farmland in the south of Russia.

The official line in Russia is that it doesn't matter who wins in November, since it won't change what the Kremlin sees as Washington's anti-Russia stance. But some candidates are better than others.