Anatoly Kurmanaev

The Trump administration is increasing pressure on the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, while striking vessels that it says are trafficking drugs.

Venezuela’s autocrat had proposed allocating his country’s oil wealth and other natural resources to the U.S. and ending deals with American adversaries to appease President Trump.

Chevron enjoys unusual sway in socialist-led Venezuela, positioning the energy colossus to gain from whatever comes of the crisis between Washington and Caracas.

The organization founded by Aleksei A. Navalny, the Kremlin’s most prominent political opponent, presented what it called new information to support its claim that he was poisoned.

While a decisive victory in Ukraine remains elusive, a Russian military resurgence is guiding Vladimir Putin as he pushes for a peace deal on his terms.

The Kremlin’s vision of national security comes at the expense of Ukrainian sovereignty, underlining the challenges of striking a peace deal.

Talks of a cease-fire in Ukraine have centered on the Donbas, a valued region for both sides and where most of the fighting is taking place. Michael Schwirtz, a global intelligence correspondent, and Anatoly Kurmanaev, a foreign correspondent covering Russia, break down who the Donbas is important to and why.

At best their meanings have changed. At worst, they no longer make sense.

The traditionally Russian-speaking area is at the heart of what the Russian president calls the “root causes” of the war, and taking it over is near the top of his list of territorial and political demands.

As he heads to Alaska for talks with President Trump, the Russian leader projects confidence that his edge on the battlefield will secure a peace deal on his terms. It’s the result of a yearslong re-engineering of his country’s military and economy.

The Russian economy was slowing even before President Trump’s latest threats. But the Kremlin has enough money to keep fighting in Ukraine.

Putin Briefs Leaders of China and India on Talks With U.S. on Ukraine

He earned a media fortune in 1990s Russia with a “sex, news and rock ’n’ roll” strategy and defended press freedoms after the industry became beleaguered and unprofitable.

Falling inflation has persuaded the central bank in Moscow to continue relaxing the country’s record borrowing costs.

The warring sides remain far apart after the third round of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations on Wednesday. But there was progress on humanitarian issues.

Russia and Ukraine are expected to hold another round of negotiations on Wednesday in Istanbul, but the two warring countries have flatly rejected each other’s demands.

President Vladimir V. Putin met with Iran’s foreign minister on Monday, but did not explicitly call out Israel or the United States for their strikes on Russia’s longtime ally.

Russia Appears to Launch New Offensive in Ukraine Amid Peace Talks

The departure of the parent of the company known as “Russia’s Google” would be a setback to President Vladimir V. Putin’s efforts to develop homegrown substitutes for Western technology.

Opposition candidate Xiomara Castro, the wife of a former leftist president who was deposed, took a commanding early lead, but determining a winner may take days. Both main parties have claimed victory.