Protests over detained teenagers
The parents of 10 young Russians suspected of participating in an extremist group organized protests in seven cities across the country, including St. Petersburg and Moscow, where dozens of protesters were arrested.
Lawyers for the suspects in the Novoye Velichiye case argue that undercover police fabricated the charges, writing the group's radical program and encouraging members to conduct shooting practice.
Favorite presenter
Russia's Channel One anchor Kirill Kleymenov invited U.S. presenter Megyn Kelly, "our favorite presenter," to host the Vremya program with him.
Kelly’s show on the NBC news network was cancelled last week after the presenter made comments in which she defended the use of blackface in Halloween costumes.
“Come to Russia, to the heroic city of Moscow. Come straight to the studio, we will host Vremya together. You will be loved by millions of Russian men, while a million women will be jealous of you,” Kleymenov said on his daily show.
Electronic warfare
The Ministry of Defence is deploying its newest electronic warfare system, Samarkand, to 13 military bases across Russia, including the Kaliningrad exclave as well as Arkhangelsk, Moscow and Murmansk.
Russia will also deploy the Samarkand system to the countries’ close military ally Belarus. The Russian military has never publicly disclosed details about the systems known as Samarkand.
Unwanted presence
Russia's expanding influence in Central African Republic (CAR), a former French colony, over the past months is not likely to stabilize the country, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said over the weekend.
Russia obtained the go-ahead from the UN Security Council to deliver arms to CAR in December 2017, when a mostly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition overthrew then-president Francois Bozize, prompting reprisals from Christian 'anti-balaka' militias.
"Africa belongs to Africans and no one else, no more to the Russians than the French," Florence Parly said.
Syria talks
The leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Turkey stressed the importance of a lasting ceasefire in Syria and said a committee to create a new constitution should meet by the end of the year.
The leaders of the four countries gathered for a summit in Istanbul to discuss Syria, where recent violence in the last remaining rebel stronghold has highlighted the fragility of a deal to avert a massive government offensive. Includes reporting from Reuters.
Stalin's victims
Moscow unveiled a new monument listing the names of over 6,000 people who were executed under Stalin between 1937 and 1941.
At the unveiling ceremony, Mikhail Fedotov, the Head of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, urged attendants to show the monument to "our children, our grandchildren, so that they understand what terrible crimes were committed in the past."
Reuters contributed reporting.
