One of the Russian government’s premier cyber espionage units is deploying malware against embassies and diplomatic organizations in Moscow by leveraging local internet service providers, Microsoft said on Thursday.

A major Russian state-sponsored cyberespionage group, tracked by Microsoft Threat Intelligence as "Secret Blizzard," has been confirmed to be targeting foreign embassies in Moscow. The group is employing a sophisticated "adversary-in-the-middle" technique to deploy its custom malware,

Russian-state hackers are targeting foreign embassies in Moscow with custom malware that gets installed using adversary-in-the-middle attacks that operate at the ISP level, Microsoft warned Thursday.

Russia says its forces have captured the key town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine after nearly 18 months of fierce fighting in the area. The Ukrainian military confirmed Thursday that Russian forces had attacked locations near Chasiv Yar,

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Syria's foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani in Moscow on Thursday, the first visit by a top official from Syria's new government since the toppling of longtime Russian ally Bashar al-Assad in December.

Despite having been on opposite sides of the battle lines during the civil war, the new rulers in Damascus, headed by interim President Ahmed al-Sharra, have taken a pragmatic approach to relations with Moscow.