Heavy crackdown
Russian police rounded up as many as 1,373 people in Moscow in one of the biggest crackdowns of recent years against an increasingly defiant opposition decrying President Vladimir Putin's tight grip on power.
The detentions came around a protest to demand that opposition members be allowed to run in a local election on Sept. 8. Authorities had declared the rally illegal and sought to block participation, but thousands of people turned up anyway in one of the longest and most determined protests of recent times.
Health scare
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was hospitalized after suffering an acute allergic reaction which one doctor said may have been the result of him being poisoned with an unknown chemical substance.
Police detained about 10 people, including journalists, who had gathered Sunday night in front of the hospital where Navalny was being treated.
Naval weekend
As protests and detentions rocked Moscow, Putin went underwater in a submersible to examine a sunken World War II submarine 800 kilometers to the northwest in the Baltic Sea.
In nearby St. Petersburg, Putin on Saturday met the families of the 14 sailors killed this month in a fire on a nuclear submarine in the Arctic and on Sunday led a major Navy Day parade.
Go fish
North Korea has released a Russian fishing boat held after being accused of violating entry regulations, the Russian Embassy in North Korea said.
North Korea detained the 15 Russian and two South Korean crew members of the fishing boat on July 17 for violating entry rules, according to the embassy. Russia said the boat did not breach any law.
Blocked tanks
Romania has reportedly blocked a shipment of Russian tanks and armored vehicles to Serbia due to sanctions the European Union imposed in 2014.
Serbia had accused Romania of preventing the shipment of 60 Russian armored vehicles, while reports said Russian transport planes flew 10 armored vehicles to Serbia this week, The Associated Press reported.
Putin’s Emmy
Putin’s July 2018 interview with Fox News host Chris Wallace has earned the U.S. television broadcaster its first-ever Emmy nomination.
The sit-down in Helsinki, Finland, which followed Putin’s talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, is one of six nominees for the “Outstanding Live Interview” prize awarded by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS).
Includes reporting from Reuters.
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