On today's Daily Vertical: To mark the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the U.S.S.R., Vladimir Putin met with the leaders of several former Soviet states to call for a new spirit of integration.

Al-Qaeda's ideology has spread to a much wider population, particularly in Syria. Al-Qaeda elements have even allied themselves with non-radical elements of Syrian society.

These photographs tell some of the stories that defined 2016.

Article 1 asserts that "citizens have the right to life" but stops short of mentioning Iran's status as one of the world's busiest executioners.

The Central Asian states generally welcomed ties with the West in the early days. Relations with Washington and European countries provided a counterweight to the former colonial master, Moscow.

Muscovites laid flowers and candles at makeshift shrines to victims of the Black Sea air disaster that claimed 92 lives on December 25.

What did people eat during the Soviet era? Doktorskaya sausages and mayonnaise-laden salad Oliver.

The 33-year-old plane was meant to travel to Russia’s Hmeimim military airbase near Latakia, Syria, where the Aleksandrov Ensemble was to perform a New Year’s concert for Russian airmen.

Communal flats & Khrushchyovkas? A look back at Soviet housing, 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Some analysts are questioning whether mutual distrust between the two countries will keep the project from going forward on schedule.

Across the West, a wave of antiestablishment feeling is challenging a political order built on the idea that open borders and open trade are the key to prosperity.

Four reasons why Nobel Prize-winning dissident and scientist Andrei Sakharov remains important for Russia and the world: https://goo.gl/LqKKpj

These are the countries that are targets of Western Sanctions.

Iranian Transport Minister allegedly said ´the country will only pay half of the $16.6 billion deal.´