Syria and ally Russia denounced a US pledge to provide direct non-lethal aid to rebel fighters, saying it will fuel more violence in the two-year conflict.
Activists from pro-Kremlin children's advocacy groups were set to march through Moscow to call on authorities to ban all foreign adoptions and demand the return of an adopted boy whose brother died in Texas.
The death of a young boy adopted from Russia at his Texas home was an accident and the bruises found on his body were self-inflicted, a coroner ruled Friday in a case that ignited a diplomatic row.
President Vladimir Putin has signed a law banning smoking in public places in Russia from June, a cornerstone of the government's bid to improve public health in the nicotine-addicted country.
Russia on Thursday accused US diplomats of blocking a UN Security Council condemnation of a bomb attack in the Syrian capital that left at least 59 dead.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev met with Cuban President Raul Castro for trade and energy talks as he kicked off a three-day visit to the communist island.
Pussy Riot icon Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is behind bars, but her husband is unbowed, saying the punk band's controversial case has exposed the weaknesses in Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule.
A woman in the US state of Texas has killed her adopted Russian son, the Kremlin's envoy for children said Monday, outlining the latest alleged abuse of an adopted Russian child by American parents.
NASA, universities and private groups in the US are working on asteroid warning systems that can detect objects from space like the one that struck Russia last week with a blinding flash and mighty boom.