Baikonur is not only Russia’s main space port but, for now, the only launchpad in the world sending manned flights into space. Since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, Russia’s Soyuz rockets -- launched from Baikonur -- are the only option for astronauts headed to the International Space Station.

The new operator plans to start supplies to Ukraine in June. The company's quota stands at more than 100,000 tonnes of diesel fuel and 12,000 tonnes of liquefied gas.

Is a new armed conflict possible? France's Macron throws weight around.

A canal dug and brought into service in Soviet times to provide water for irrigation in Crimea – but now blocked and disused – could this be the next flashpoint in the conflict pitting Russia and Ukraine?

Russia has deployed several thousand peacekeepers between the sides. Turkey, which was a major factor in helping Azerbaijan reverse its three decades of losses in a 45-day assault, also has officials in the formerly occupied territories of Azerbaijan as part of a joint Russian-Turkish monitoring centre.