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Reuters - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday by saying Moscow wants Arab peoples to live in peace and the Syrian leader is aware of his responsibility, Russian news agency RIA reported.

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AP - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday pledged to cut traffic privileges for officials, who routinely bypass Moscow's notorious traffic jams by ignoring basic rules of the road and even driving into oncoming lanes.

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AP - Italy announced emergency energy measures Monday, cutting gas supplies to some industries to make sure that private homes stayed warm during a severe cold spell.

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Time.com - The weather was frightful, but tens of thousands of people showed up in Russia's capital for dueling demonstrations -- though one side may have made appearing hard to refuse

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AP - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is running for a third term as president, on Monday promised Russians a bigger say in politics amid the growing public discontent with his dominance of power.

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The Christian Science Monitor - Defying predictions that Russia's protest movement had run out of steam, or that bone-chilling winter cold would keep them away, tens of thousands of people converged on downtown Moscow Saturday to demand fair elections and an end to political corruption. ; ; ; ; ; ; ;Estimates of the pro-democracy crowd ranged from a police tally of 35,000 up to a claim of 120,000 by organizers, but it was big enough to put to rest any doubts that the surging mood of protest, which erupted after allegedly fixed December parliamentary elections, is still running strong. ; ; ; ; ; ; ;The thermometer showed -20 degrees C. (-4 F), cold enough to freeze unprotected fingers in less than 5 minutes, but marchers seemed in high spirits, waving signs that said, "We won't freeze and we won't forgive," "Down with autocracy," and "Not a single vote to (Vladimir) Putin."

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AP - The price Russia will have to pay in international condemnation of its action clearly doesn't seem excessive to the Russian leaders. In fact, the Kremlin even may hope to reap some dividends both at home and abroad by coming to Assad's defense.

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Reuters - Vladimir Putin's opponents vowed on Sunday to press on with demonstrations against his 12-year domination of Russia after tens of thousands attended a march which kept up the momentum of their protest movement.

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Reuters - There was no risk of a radiation leak after a fire broke out at a Moscow nuclear research center housing a non-operational 60-year-old atomic reactor Sunday, said officials, but Greenpeace Russia expressed serious concern about the incident.

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AP - Moscow still sees two problems of "crucial importance" with a draft U.N. resolution on the violence in Syria, Russia's foreign minister said Saturday amid Western attempts to head off a Russian veto in the Security Council.

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