Vladimir Putin's election to a third term as Russian president has spurred debates about civil society and church-state relations within the Russian Orthodox Church.

After a week of protest over alleged fraud in the 4 December parliamentary election, the Russian Orthodox Church has called for stricter controls on the process.

The Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church has called on his Russian counterpart to reconcile, after a war between the two countries in 2008.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has condemned the US decision to site interceptor missiles at the Deveselu air base in Romania.