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A notorious Russian serial killer known “The Werewolf” – who is already serving a life sentence for 22 murders – may be behind up to 37 more deaths, according to investigators digging into his crimes. Mikhail Popkov, a 52-year-old former policeman from the city of Angarsk, north of Russia's border with Mongolia, reportedly told investigators that his kill total was 59. He was already sentenced and convicted for 22 deaths and is awaiting trial for an additional 25 – while authorities told The Siberian Times Tuesday that they are looking into an additional 12 cases in which he may have been involved. “The investigation will be very long because there are a lot of cases,” senior investigator Andrei Bunayev told the news website last year. “He names the places where bodies are hidden. We find these bodies, and check his involvement.” Bunayev said investigators were re-examining biological traces that were previously overlooked in some cases. Law enforcement sources told The Times it wa...

US President-elect Donald Trump has praised Vladimir Putin for not expelling American diplomats, despite a similar move by Washington in response to alleged election interference. Mr Trump tweeted : "Great move on delay - I always knew he was very smart!" Moscow denies any involvement in election-related hacking. But in one of the last moves of the Obama presidency, Washington demanded Russian 35 diplomats leave the country by Sunday afternoon. Mr Putin ruled out an immediate tit-for-tat response. The row follows allegations that Russia directed hacks against the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, releasing embarrassing information through Wikileaks and other outlets to help Mr Trump win the election. Several US agencies including the FBI and the CIA say this is the case, but Mr Trump initially dismissed the claims as "ridiculous". He has since said he will meet US intelligence chiefs to be "updated on the facts of this situation...

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow would not expel any US diplomats, a surprise decision after Washington turfed out Russian diplomats over alleged interference in the US election. “We will not create problems for American diplomats. We will not expel anyone,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin, also inviting children of US diplomats to a holiday party in the Kremlin. Indicating that the ball was in the court of the next US administration, Putin said however that Moscow reserved the right to retaliate after Washington’s decision to expel 35 diplomats, who have 72 hours to leave the country. “According to international practice, Russia has all the grounds for a comparable response,” Putin announced, following a statement by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov which suggested a tit-for-tat response was in the works. “Reserving the right to retaliatory measures, we… will be planning our next steps in restoring US-Russian relations based on the policies pursued b...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered stricter governmental measures to crack down on sales of surrogate alcohol, after dozens died from drinking a bath lotion. The death toll in the Siberian city of Irkutsk has risen to 62, with more than 30 people seriously ill. Mr Putin also wants new rules for compulsory labelling, plus tougher penalties for bootleggers. The deadly bath lotion contained methanol, which is highly poisonous. Excise tax increase Analysts say up to 12 million Russians drink cheap alternatives to regular, drinkable alcohol. These are often labelled as cosmetics or medicines, and are regularly sold via vending machines. The presidential orders, published on the Kremlin website, call for tougher rules on all products containing more than 25% alcohol, and on the retailing of medicinal and veterinary products containing alcohol. Police in Irkutsk check private stores to ensure they are not selling poisonous lotions Mr Putin also approved increasing excise taxes on...

MOSCOW – The spokesman for President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday indicated that Moscow doesn't believe the gunman who killed Russia's ambassador to Turkey acted on his own, but refused to explain the reasons for the suspicion. "We shouldn't rush with any theories before the investigators establish who were behind the assassination of our ambassador," said spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who offered no suggestions about who those people might be. The ambassador, Andrei Karlov, was killed Monday evening in front of stunned onlookers at a photo exhibition in Ankara. The assassin, Mevlut Mert Altintas of Ankara's riot police squad, was killed in a police operation. On Tuesday, Russia flew a team of 18 investigators and foreign ministry officials to Turkey to take part in the probe. Their plane returned with Karlov's body and his family. Russian officials and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who was visiting Moscow met the family at the Vnukovo airport l...