WASHINGTON – Russian diners won’t be able to find creamy Dutch cheeses or juicy Polish apples in the grocery store or cook up chicken from the United States – the result of a Russian ban on most food imports from the West. Although the U.S., Canada and the European Union together will take more than a $17.5 billion hit from the one-year ban, Russian consumers may feel it more than Western farmers.

ROZSYPNE, Ukraine — Emergency workers, police officers and even off-duty coal miners spread out Friday across the sunflower fields and villages of eastern Ukraine, searching the wreckage of a Malaysia Airlines jet shot down as it flew miles above the country’s battlefield.

The new “agreement” between Russia, the U.S. and our allies is exactly what the former KGB agent ordered. This isn’t to say it’s not a good “prospect” for ending tensions in Ukraine, as President Barack Obama has said. But neither should it surprise anyone that Vladimir Putin is willing to step back from that country – not to ease economic sanctions but to satisfy his own designs.

LOS ANGELES -- In a rare diplomatic rebuke, President Barack Obama on Wednesday canceled his Moscow summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hired One week after Alain Vigneault emerged as the leading coaching candidate, the NHL’s New York Rangers hired him Friday to replace the fired John Tortorella. Vigneault agreed to a five-year contract. Vigneault was the choice of team president and general manager Glen Sather from a group that included former Rangers captain Mark Messier. • The Dallas Stars have hired Lindy Ruff as their coach. Ruff was fired by the Buffalo Sabres in February. It’s the first significant hire for new Dallas general manager Jim Nill, who was hired in April after the Stars missed the NHL playoffs a fifth straight season.

LONDON – Russian President Vladimir Putin is denying insinuations that he stole New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl ring that’s now on display in the Kremlin, but says he’s ready to buy him another ring as a gift. Putin was reacting Sunday through a spokesman to a New York Post story quoting remarks made by Kraft at an awards gala at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel last Thursday.

MOSCOW – Wagging his pen and gazing directly into the camera, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent his strongest signal yet Thursday that he plans to return to Russia’s presidency, telling millions of TV viewers that he will consider running in 2012. The former KGB spy, who retains huge power despite formally stepping down after his eight-year presidency in 2008, turned in an electric performance during his annual marathon call-in show – cementing his high rating among the electorate and his reputation as Russia’s No. 1 leader.