MOSCOW, May 6 (Reuters) – Russia on Friday criticised a
Western-led grouping that has pledged aid to the Libyan rebels
fighting Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, warning that it must not seek
to overstep the U.N. Security Council’s mandate.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese
counterpart Yang Jiechi said they would work together to seek
stability in the Middle East and North African region.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Chinese President Hu Jintao will be the top guest at Russia’s showcase investor forum next month as the Kremlin seeks to cement an alliance between the world’s biggest energy producer and the fastest growing major economy.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Hu will meet Russian leaders and attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which the Kremlin presents as Russia’s answer to the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

MOSCOW, May 6 (Reuters) – Chinese President Hu Jintao will
be the top guest at Russia’s showcase investor forum next month
as the Kremlin seeks to cement an alliance between the world’s
biggest energy producer and the fastest growing major economy.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Hu will
meet Russian leaders and attend the St Petersburg International
Economic Forum, which the Kremlin presents as Russia’s answer to
the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s domestic intelligence agency said Tuesday it had established the guilt of a man Russian media have identified as the spymaster who betrayed a ring of agents operating in the United States last year.

Russian media have reported that a top spy they identified as Alexander Poteyev was responsible for betraying 10 Russian agents deported from the United States in a Cold War-style swap on a Vienna airport tarmac in July.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian court will begin considering ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s appeal against his conviction on multi-billion-dollar theft and money laundering charges on May 17, a court official said on Wednesday.

Khodorkovsky, first convicted of fraud and tax evasion in 2005, was sentenced last December to stay in jail until 2017 after a politically charged second trial seen as a test of President Dmitry Medvedev’s vows to improve the rule of law.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian human rights activists appealed to President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday to intervene to stop extrajudicial kidnappings and enforce the rule of law in the country’s predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya.

A decade after federal forces drove separatists out of power in Chechnya, rights workers said the region’s Kremlin-backed leadership has amassed huge powers and local prosecutors had no power to curb or probe cases of torture and kidnappings.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said he had no plans to crack down on the Internet ahead of 2012 elections, seeking to play down concerns over recent hacker attacks on a blogging website.

“My personal opinion is that I don’t think it is possible to limit anything,” said Putin, answering a question from a lawmaker after his annual address to parliament.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian hacker attacks on the country’s biggest blog site and a spy agency’s warning to Gmail and Skype have raised fears that authorities are tightening their grip on dissent in a China-like assault on free speech.

With an eye on Arab unrest that has toppled two North African leaders and spurred Western military intervention in Libya, Moscow is keen to defuse potential turmoil ahead of a December parliamentary election and a 2012 presidential vote.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian hacker attacks on the country’s biggest blog site and a spy agency’s warning to Gmail and Skype have raised fears that authorities are tightening their grip on dissent in a China-like assault on free speech.

With an eye on Arab unrest that has toppled two North African leaders and spurred Western military intervention in Libya, Moscow is keen to defuse potential turmoil ahead of a December parliamentary election and a 2012 presidential vote.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A group of Russian Muslims are waiting for a response from Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi to their offer to join his army, a community leader said on Tuesday.

Originally from Russia’s volatile mainly Muslim North Caucasus, the Circassian people are scattered across the globe, with diaspora in Turkey, Syria and Libya. A 19th century Tsarist military campaign caused many to flee their homeland.