The chief executive of French oil major Total, Christophe de Margerie, was killed when a business jet collided with a snow plow during takeoff at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport, the company and airport officials said.
The number of times Japanese fighter jets scrambled to ward off Russian military aircraft more than doubled in the last six months, amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is keen to ease.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is guest of honor at a military parade in Belgrade on Thursday to mark 70 years since the city's liberation by the Red Army, a visit loaded with symbolism as Serbia walks a tightrope between the Europe it wants to join and a big-power ally it cannot leave behind.
Russia has joined Iran in suggesting that a late November deadline for reaching an agreement to end a long-running dispute over Tehran's nuclear program may need to be extended.
