The U.S. ambassador to Moscow called on Russia to stop "sensational exploitation" of the tragic death in Texas of an adopted Russian boy as parliament Friday issued a special appeal to the U.S. Congress on the escalating scandal.

The January death of three-year-old Maxim Kuzmin was this week alleged by some Russian officials to be murder by his mother Laura Shatto, whipping up a storm of controversy less than two months after Russia banned U.S. adoptions.

The din of machinery mingled with the echo of the 19th century Crimean War when an excavator bucket stumbled upon the yellowed remains of long-dead French soldiers at a construction site in a southern Ukrainian port city.

The haunting find at Sebastopol's Cane Bay beach in December revealed the site of a large cemetery of French soldiers who died in the war against the Russian Empire during the 1854-1856 Crimean War.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold his first meeting with new U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Berlin next week, the Russian foreign ministry said Thursday.

Lavrov and Kerry will meet on February 26 to "discuss a wide range of questions on the agenda in bilateral relations and international problems," it said in a statement, without giving further details.

Five North Koreans working on a building site in the Russian Far East have been found dead, apparently after inhaling fumes from a diesel-powered generator, investigators said on Monday.

The North Koreans were among the several thousand citizens of the secretive Stalinist state believed to be working around the city of Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, which has a small land border with North Korea.

The head of the Russian parliament's ethics committee resigned his seat on Wednesday after a leading anti-corruption crusader accused him of having U.S.-based property worth over $2 million.

Ruling party lawmaker Vladimir Pekhtin quit after Alexei Navalny, arguably the most charismatic leader of Russia's opposition movement, accused him of owning luxury property in Florida that he had not declared.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour urged on Wednesday the need to halt the violence in Syria and launch political dialogue, which alone can help end the country's crisis.

He said: “Foreign meddling in Syria will only deepen the crisis and not end it.”

Russia on Wednesday urged the warring sides in Syria to halt their almost two-year conflict and start talks, warning that seeking a military settlement risked mutual destruction.

"It's time to end this two-year conflict," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a meeting with Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi and other top Arab diplomats.

Nigeria on Tuesday charged 15 Russian sailors detained since October with illegally bringing weapons into the west African nation that is awash with black-market fire arms.

The crew of the MV Myre Seadiver were temporarily denied bail by Lagos High Court Judge Okechukwu Okeke, with a final ruling on the bail application set for February 25.

The European Union and Russia called on Iran on Tuesday to be flexible at much-anticipated talks next week over its disputed nuclear program.

EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton said after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that both sides "expressed hope that Iran will come to these negotiations with flexibility and that we can make substantial progress".

Two Russian Emergencies Ministry planes carrying humanitarian aid for Syria on Tuesday took off from Moscow for the city of Latakia and may take Russians wanting to leave on their flight back, the ministry said.

The Ilyushin-62 and Ilyushin-76 planes were carrying 46 tons of humanitarian aid and would be ready to evacuate any Russians wanting to leave the country, a ministry spokesperson told Russian news agencies.