Russia under President Vladimir Putin doesn't rely much on soft power to get its way abroad, in the same way it doesn't do much liberal democracy at home. It does, however, do manipulation, and Europe is only just waking up to how much and how well.

There were 76, but they were dubbed the "Russian 100" — life-savers flown in from Moscow within hours of an appeal for help from Serbia as the heaviest rainfall in more than a century inundated the Balkans in May.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea has found supporters in an unlikely country: Last Sunday, an opinion poll in Germany found that nearly 40 percent of the country's population accept the move.

Russia and France may be tussling over the delivery of military supplies – and the small matter of a war in Europe – but the Kremlin is not above a magnanimous yuletide gesture.

Just a decade or so ago, most public‑school-educated parents felt obliged to give their children the same start in life they themselves were given (...). These days the price is just too high, says Andrew Halls, head of King’s College School in Wimbledon, and he’s been honest enough to name the cause: the hordes of prospective parents from other countries, oligarchs and oil men, all jostling for places for their progeny. They push the price of an elite ‘British’ education up beyond the reach of any ordinary Brit.

US ambassador to Russia said that he would like to expand contacts and cultural ties between Russia and the United States.  Relations between Russia and the US have been strained in light of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. 

Russia’s appeal among the Indian public is limited to the intellectual elite and those with nostalgia for the golden age of socialism. The time has come to reach out a wider set of Indians.