Nemtsov march
Thousands of people took to the streets in around 20 cities across Russia on Sunday to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.
The authorities denied permission to seven of the events. The OVD-Info police monitoring website reported that one person had been detained at the Moscow march, which was approved by the authorities. The man was later released.
Not in my backyard
Residents in the northern city of Arkhangelsk took to the streets against plans to send at least 500,000 tons of waste from Moscow.
Authorities have moved to shut down controversial landfills in the Moscow region to quell growing anger there, leaving 6.6 million tons of waste in need of being redirected to other regions.
Deadly crash
A U.S. citizen and a Moscow woman were killed in an accident when a driver high on laughing gas crashed into a crowd of bystanders on Nevsky Prospekt in central St. Petersburg, the local Fontanka news website reported.
The American was identified as 40-year-old Todd Ashley Crowell, and the second victim as 39-year-old Yevgeniya Korneyenkova.
E-boarding
New rules have taken effect allowing passengers to use mobile boarding passes for domestic and international flights.
Although paper boarding passes can still be printed out at the airport if needed, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports have reportedly announced readiness to comply with the new rules.
To the teeth
Russia's Foreign Ministry accused the United States and its NATO allies of discussing how to arm the opposition in Venezuela and alleged that Washington was deploying special forces and equipment near the South American nation.
Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said a U.S. humanitarian aid convoy for Venezuela could provoke clashes and create a pretext for removing President Nicolas Maduro, a staunch Russian ally, by force.
Near abroad
Early results pointed to a hung parliament in Moldova's election, splitting the vote between pro-Western and pro-Russian forces at a time when the ex-Soviet republic's relations with the European Union have soured.
The current government says it wants closer EU integration and warns of catastrophe if the country falls back into Russia's sphere of influence.
Syrian patrol
Russian military police could be deployed in a proposed "safe zone" along Syria's northern border with Turkey, Russian news agencies cited Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying to Chinese and Vietnamese media.
Lavrov was cited as saying that the format of the safe zone was in the process of being finalized by military leaders, and that any decision would take the interests of Damascus and Ankara into account as far as possible.
Costly dance
A police officer who had ordered a Defender of the Fatherland holiday striptease for dozens of her colleagues has been fired from the Interior Ministry department in the Far East republic of Buryatia.
Five other officials, including the department chief in the regional capital of Ulan-Ude, had been reprimanded over the incident.
Includes reporting from Reuters.
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