Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov was elected leader of the Party of Regions on Friday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit Austria on April 24-25, a Russian government source said on Friday.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Friday he was ready to take over the leadership of the Party of Regions.

Russia is open to migrants who come to the country legally and want to make it their permanent place of residence, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko said on Friday the Ukrainian authorities are infringing the rights of the opposition.

The United States urges Armenia and Turkey to continue efforts at reconciliation and supports Yerevan's decision to put the process on hold, the U.S. Embassy in Armenia said on Friday.

Armenian President Serzh Sargysan signed a decree on Thursday that put the ratification of Armenian-Turkish protocols on hold, declaring that his country would wait until Ankara showed it was ready to normalize relations.

"President Sargsyan's announcement makes clear that Armenia has not ended the process but has suspended it until the Turkish side is ready to move forward. We applaud President Sargsyan's decision to continue to work towards a vision of peace, stability, and reconciliation," Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon was quoted as saying on the embassy website.

"We believe that the normalization process carries important benefits for Turkey and Armenia as well as the wider Caucasus region. We continue to urge both sides to keep the door open to pursuing efforts at reconciliation and normalization," Gordon added.

Sargsyan said on Thursday that he had discussed the move with the French, U.S. and Russian presidents, as well as with other partners.

"I won't hide that our partners called on me to continue the process, not to quit it," he said.

He stressed that Armenia still wanted to establish full diplomatic relations with Turkey, and would return to the issue when there was an "appropriate atmosphere" and corresponding readiness in Ankara.

Long strained relations between Armenia and Turkey took a major step forward on October 10, 2009, when Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Devutoglu signed protocols on establishing diplomatic relations and developing bilateral relations.

The documents, signed in Switzerland, have to be ratified by both countries to come into force.

The Armenian-Turkish border was closed in 1993 on Ankara's initiative. Bilateral relations between the countries are complicated by Turkey's support of Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over Nagorny Karabakh and differing positions on the genocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I, which Ankara consistently denies.

RIA Novosti

Deposed Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev said he has no intention of returning to Kyrgyzstan as president, despite his statement that he has not admitted to his resignation.

The Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has approved an additional plenary session on April 27 to ratify an agreement on prolonging the presence of the country's Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine's Crimea for another 25 years.

The Ukrainian opposition will not be able to hamper the ratification of a deal between Moscow and Kiev on extending Russia's use of a naval base in Ukraine's Crimea, Russian daily Kommersant said.

The extension of Russia's lease on its Black Sea Fleet base in Ukraine will not affect NATO's relations with Moscow and Kiev, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday.