| 2011-12-15 17:08 Don't provoke protesters, ex-minister Kudrin tells Putin |
Russia’s ex-finance minister Alexei Kudrin criticized on Thursday Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s remarks regarding the white ribbons worn by protesters at recent nationwide rallies against alleged electoral fraud.
American director Woody Allen began shooting his latest movie in Paris on Monday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday said a European Parliament resolution calling for new State Duma elections “means nothing.” 
After Wimbledon Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova came to Belarus. 
Russia: possible energy sanctions against Estonia · 2007-03-28 13:26
Russia's Foreign Ministry warned Estonia Wednesday it would face serious consequences for fuelling tensions over Soviet-era war memorials and nurturing Nazi sentiments in the Baltic state.
The statement came in response to Estonian authorities' permission "to lay a barbed wire wreath" to the World War II Bronze Soldier statue in central Tallinn, with police providing security for those taking part in the "ceremony."
"Another provocative example is the Estonian ultra-nationalists' plans to reserve the square around the monument on VE-Day to prevent WWII veterans who fought the Nazis from holding their traditional victory celebrations at the site," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said.
Estonia's commission on wartime burials recommended March 13 removing the statue, which is part of a Soviet-era memorial, from central Tallinn to a "quieter" military cemetery, in accordance with a new law passed in January, RIA Novosti reports.
The six-foot Bronze Soldier and other Soviet memorials have recently become rallying points for ethnic Russians, and clashes with Estonian nationalists near the bronze monument prompted the authorities to press for monuments "dividing society" to be removed. Protests against the removal have been dispelled by police using tear gas.
Russia accuses Estonia of encouraging Nazism and discrimination against ethnic Russians, and even prompted debate on possible energy sanctions against Estonia. Moscow has also called for international organizations to step in.
"We believe it is necessary that organizations of which Estonia is a member, including the EU, NATO and OSCE, must voice their protest against such steps," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
Some 50,000 Soviet troops perished in Estonia in 1944 fighting against Nazi Germany. The Soviets regained control of the republic, which many Estonians call occupation. The bodies of the soldiers killed in action are buried at 450 cemeteries and memorials across the Baltic country.
• Schoolteacher from Perm region faces second piracy trial
• Russia proposes UN fact-finding mission to Kosovo
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