The 8th International Film Festival kicks off in Wiesbaden. More than 150 films from 20 countries participate in the festival, including 10 Russian works.

The famous Russian writer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, says Ukrainian efforts to have the 1930s famine recognised as Russian genocide against Ukraine is an act of historical revisionism.

Paul Scofield, one of Britain's greatest Shakespearean actors and an Academy Award winner, has died at the age of 86, his agent has said.

Seven people have been charged in connection with a multi-million dollar international art forgery operation.

Orthodox Christians will observe the Great Lent as of Monday, March 19. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II will officiate the first Great Lent service at the Christ the Savior Cathedral on Monday evening, a source at the Moscow Patriarchate told Itar-Tass on Sunday. The patriarch will chant the great canon of repentance at the Epiphany Cathedral in downtown Moscow, then at the New Monastery of the Savior and at the Moscow residence of the Piuchtice Convent of the Dormition for the next three days.

Fans of realist paintings will be scrambling over one another in Moscow this weekend, when 80 of Russia’s finest 20th century works are auctioned off. It’s thought they’ll fetch up to $US 200,000.

The Russian royal family were among the first to appreciate exquisite Boucheron jewellery from Paris more than a century ago. To mark its 150th birthday the luxury brand has come to Moscow – it’s first destination outside Paris.

The New York Philharmonic orchestra has arrived in North Korea, for what has been described as a remarkable display of cultural diplomacy.

The 6th International Festival of Cinematographic Debuts ‘Spirit of Fire” opens in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk today.

Residents of large cities across the globe spend a considerable part of their lives in metro tunnels, in the chaos of sounds and faces.