WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- Russia's defense minister and the nation's new armed forces chief of staff want to dramatically improve the living conditions of Russian servicemen to fulfill a vital policy plank for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

WASHINGTON, June 6 (UPI) -- Russia's new armed forces chief of staff has been charged with making his country's military more modern, high-tech, better fed and paid -- and far more effective.

MOSCOW, March 16 (UPI) -- Former Soviet Georgia has clamped down a tough blockade on its pro-Russian autonomous republic of Adzharia, Russian media reported Tuesday.

MOSCOW, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin sailed the Barents Sea Tuesday observing Russia's biggest military exercises since Soviet times.

MOSCOW, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Russia is threatening to abandon a European weapons and troop treaty unless NATO is forbidden a presence in Baltic states, the Moscow Times said Tuesday.