Moscow election protests
Police in Moscow detained 38 protesters at a rally to demonstrate against a possible ban on opposition candidates running in elections to the Russian capital's parliament.
Opposition leaders cried foul after Moscow's election commission said most of their sponsored candidates failed to secure the required number of signatures to participate in the election.
Air defense giveaway
Russia will sell more S-400 air defense systems to Middle Eastern countries “in the near future,” senior lawmaker Leonid Slutsky was quoted as saying as shipments of the system were delivered to Turkey.
“S-400s and more modern weapons systems will definitely appear in the region,” the head of the lower-house State Duma’s International Affairs Committee said.
Space ‘census’
Russian space agency Roscosmos launched a Russian heavy-lift rocket Proton-M from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Russian media said the observatory will take a stable position between the Earth and the sun with the purpose of creating a detailed star map.
Backing China
Saudi Arabia, Russia and 35 other states have written to the United Nations supporting China's policies in its western region of Xinjiang, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
China has been accused of detaining a million Muslims and persecuting ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang. Some 22 ambassadors, including those representing Britain, Germany and Canada, signed a letter to the UN Human Rights Council this week criticizing its policies.
Loan default
A former owner of the debt-laden Antipinsky refinery, Russia's largest independent oil-processing plant, was arrested in Moscow, his company said in a statement.
New Stream group said its head, Dmitry Mazurov, was arrested by the Investigative Committee at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.
Visit-gate
An Urals man has been detained for attempting to put up a plaque commemorating ex-U.S. President Richard Nixon’s 1959 visit to the mining town of Degtyarsk.
Police charged Pyotr Kikilyk, 75, with organizing an unauthorized event, the police-monitoring website OVD-Info reported.
Includes reporting from Reuters.
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