The State Duma's Culture Committee has urged the legislature to approve a bill banning the use of foreign words in public speech in a bid to protect the status of the Russian language, a news report said.

Who would have thought that it is the hard power driven Vladimir Putin who would demonstrate to the world the use of the whole spectrum of power tools in the 21st century. He learned from his past mistakes, picked up our debate on soft/smart power, and, by the time he decided to invade Ukraine, he knew exactly how to wield the whole set of his tools.

Liz Williams, executive director of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, and Ryan Hughes, who will be the chef at the museum's restaurant Purloo, have traveled to Moscow to build good will through good eats, reports the Advocate. Williams and Hughes are part of a delegation funded by the U.S. State Department that also includes musicians Donald Harrison Jr., Keith Frank and the KIPP McDonogh 15 Middle School marching band.

Russian Ambassador to Zambia, Konstantin Kozhanov, says for the past 25 years the Russian Centre in Zambia has been active and has added momentum to furthering cultural and educational cooperation between Russia and Zambia.

While Russia pulls its troops back from the Ukrainian border, a second instrument of Russian power remains firmly in place: a network of Kremlin-funded media outlets that is bringing news of the Ukraine crisis to millions of people worldwide. RT, a state-owned multilingual television network that’s Russia’s answer to CNN(TWX) and Al-Jazeera, made headlines earlier this year when one of its American anchors announced her resignation on the air, saying she did not want to work for a network that “whitewashes the actions” of President Vladimir Putin.

President Obama urged the world Wednesday to help Ukraine as it faces economic challenges, Russian threats and separatist violence in the eastern and southern regions. "We're confident that Ukraine can, in fact, be a thriving, vital democracy that has strong relationships with Europe and has strong relationships with Russia," Obama said after his first face-to-face meeting with Ukraine President-elect Petro Poroshenko.

A group of U.S. lawmakers is seeking to overhaul the country's international news and programming broadcasts, saying they should be consistent with and supportive of the country's foreign policy objectives.  Royce said Wednesday the reorganization is necessary to bolster U.S. broadcasting in the face of growing competition from Russian, Chinese and other foreign international broadcasters.