Over a hundred thousand people braved the bitter cold at two major rallies in downtown Moscow on Saturday as a power play between champions of political liberalization and supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin continues to unfold.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Gazprom should take great effort to ensure natural gas exports to Europe, which is experiencing an extremely cold snap.
Speakers at the rival pro-government rally in Moscow on Saturday lambasted the opposition, which held a parallel protest event elsewhere in the city, for plotting a revolution in the interests of Western powers.
At least 217 people have been killed in a new major army offensive in the central Syrian city of Homs, Al-Jazeera reported on Saturday citing UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.