MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia accused the West on Wednesday of ratcheting up tensions in the Black Sea with an increased NATO naval presence and warned against isolating Moscow over the conflict in Georgia.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia could cut poultry and pork import quotas by hundreds of thousands of tons, the country's agriculture minister said Wednesday. The move could hit American producers hard and comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington over the war in ex-Soviet Georgia....

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia warned NATO on Wednesday over its naval presence in the Black Sea as Western powers lined up to condemn Moscow's decision to recognise the independence of two Georgian rebel regions.

Tory leader calls for suspension of European negotiations with Moscow

As tensions between Moscow and the West rise, new fears surface over the possibility of Russian military action against other former Soviet states and a face-off between NATO and Russian naval forces in the Black Sea.

The recognition of the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Russia will considerably damage ties between the West and Moscow, says DW’s Ingo Mannteufel.

President Bashar Assad of Syria has publicly stepped up his outreach to old ally Russia in recent days, seeking aid to build up Syrian military forces and offering Moscow help in return — in an apparent effort to exploit a new Russian-American rift.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned Russia's decision to recognize two rebel regions of Georgia as independent states and said Moscow should be further isolated from the international community.

All parties involved in the Caucasus conflict are "playing with fire," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Wednesday. He said the West needs a measured response to Moscow.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - An intense earthquake measuring nine on the Richter scale hit the Lake Baikal area of eastern Siberia on Wednesday, triggering reports of panic, but there were no casualties or major damage, officials said.