MOSCOW (Reuters) – President-elect Vladimir Putin called on all political forces to unite on Wednesday to help Russia develop peacefully after elections that caused tension and triggered “political battles” that divided the country.

In his last annual address to parliament as prime minister, Putin hailed the achievements of his four years in government, saying it had brought stability, increased living standards, reduced inflation and staunched a demographic crisis.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President-elect Vladimir Putin called on all political forces to unite on Wednesday to help Russia develop peacefully after elections that caused tension and triggered “political battles” that divided the country.

In his last annual address to parliament as prime minister, Putin hailed the achievements of his four years in government, saying it had brought stability, increased living standards, reduced inflation and staunched a demographic crisis.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President-elect Vladimir Putin called on all political forces to unite on Wednesday to help Russia develop peacefully after elections that caused tension and triggered “political battles” that divided the country.

In his last annual address to parliament as prime minister, Putin hailed the achievements of his four years in government, saying it had brought stability, increased living standards, reduced inflation and staunched a demographic crisis.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A passenger plane crashed and burst into flames after takeoff in Siberia on Monday, killing 31 people and putting the spotlight on Russia’s poor air-safety record before Vladimir Putin’s return as president.

Thirteen survivors were pulled from the wreckage but one later died after being rushed by helicopter to hospital in the city of Tyumen, some 1,720 km (1,070 miles) east of Moscow, emergency officials said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev proposed on Wednesday reviving a social democratic party in Russia in the hope of uniting leftist groups opposed to President-elect Vladimir Putin.

Gorbachev, 81, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying he was ready to relaunch a movement he led from 2001 until 2004 but that he would not be its leader.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – An international human rights group urged Russia on Tuesday to stop detaining peaceful protesters after police hauled away more than 100 people attending opposition rallies over the weekend.

More than 120 people were detained in three unsanctioned rallies in Moscow on Saturday and Sunday and New York-based Human Rights Watch said 10 pro-democracy activists had been held after a rally in the city of Nizhny Novgorod east of Moscow last week.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian police detained more than 20 people near the Kremlin on Saturday as the opposition staged two new anti-government protests following Vladimir Putin’s presidential election win.

About 300 people attended the main demonstration at Pushkin Square in central Moscow where they listened to prominent opposition leaders condemning Putin’s allegedly fraud-ridden election victory. A police spokesman said two people had been detained at the rally.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian courts jailed one of the organizers of opposition protests for 10 days, fined another and gave the husband of a third a five-year prison term for fraud on Thursday in rulings the opposition said were a warning signal from Vladimir Putin.

The punishments fuelled anger over what Putin’s critics say is a corrupt judicial system and are likely to heighten opposition fears of a crackdown following his election to a new six-year term as president on March 4.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s opposition said on Tuesday they feared Vladimir Putin had decided to use force to smother their protests after riot police detained hundreds of demonstrators challenging his presidential election victory.

After three months of peaceful anti-Putin protests, police hauled away more than 500 people, including opposition leaders, who attended unsanctioned protests in Moscow and St Petersburg on Monday or refused to leave after a rally that was permitted.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian opposition leaders accused Vladimir Putin of changing tactics to crack down on dissent after riot police detained hundreds of protesters challenging the legitimacy of his presidential election victory.

Black-helmeted police hauled away more than 500 people, including several opposition leaders, who attended unsanctioned rallies in Moscow and St Petersburg Monday or refused to disperse at the end of a rally that had been permitted.