Human rights organisations in Russia have joined forces to honour Memorial, an international civil rights society which operates in a number of post-Soviet states, as they received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in the European Parliament

The Russian authorities must stop persecuting human rights activists and instead channel their efforts into investigating those responsible for their murders, Amnesty International says ahead of Human Rights Day on 10 December.

The US President, Barack Obama, has abandoned controversial plans to site a missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The decision is likely to ease tensions in the USA’s relations with Russia.

A visit to Ukraine by Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church has laid to rest talk of the need for formal independence of one of the most significant parts of the church, say top aides.