Friendship with Saakashvili soured after the U.S.-educated president cracked down on dissent and led his nation into a disastrous 2008 war with Russia.

Russia's communications minister tweeted that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev urged the social media giant's founder to abandon plans to lure away Russian programmers and instead open a research center in Moscow.

Russian nationalists denounce wedding traditions brought into the Russian capital from the volatile Caucasus.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Moscow, where officials were pressing him to expand the company's operations in Russia.

Justice Ministry spokeswoman said the film was deemed extremist because it could incite ethnic and religious hatred.

The Obama administration on Friday pledged $45 million in new aid as diplomatic efforts sputtered.

Russia's energy czar has pledged to invest billions of dollars to tap oilfields in Venezuela and also presented its leader with a personal gift from Vladamir Putin.

Nine prominent organizations that receive international funding will defy rule to register as "foreign agents."

Since announcing his ambitions, Bidzina Ivanishvili has been stripped of his citizenship and fined millions of dollars. 

It took a weekend road tragedy to jolt Russia into action over a chronic culture of drunken driving.