With troops now stationed in the breakaway Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia unilaterally recognizes both as independent republics

Russia and China use their Security Council veto to block a UN resolution to end the violence in Syria

Vladimir Putin is elected president in Russia, prompting large public protests and widespread allegations of fraud

Russia and China again veto a UN Security Council attempt to apply economic sanctions on Syria

A huge meteor enters the earth's atmosphere and explodes over Chelyabinsk in Russia, injuring more than 1000 people

The American whistleblower Edward Snowden is granted a one-year visa for asylum in Russia

Syria accepts a joint Russian and US proposal that all their chemical weapons should be identified and destroyed within a very tight deadline

Thirty Greenpeace activists protesting against drilling in the Arctic are arrrested when armed Russians storm their ship, the Arctic Sunrise

People gather in Kiev's main square chanting 'Ukraine is Europe' to protest against President Yanukovych's attempts to align the country with Russia rather than the European Union

A vast crowd assembles in Kiev to protest against President Yanukovych's rejection of an alliance with the European Union, preferring one with Russia

Russia formally annexes Crimea after President Vladimir Putin signs a bill finalizing the process.

Turkey shoots down a Russian fighter jet on the Turkish–Syrian border, in the first case of a NATO member destroying a Russian aircraft since the 1950s

Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their schism in 1054.

Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, are poisoned by the Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits Russia to hold a series of summits with Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin