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Medvedev Sacks Ten More Police Generals

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sacked 10 more high-ranking interior ministry officials in an effort to reform Russia's bloated police force, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Nearly all the sacked officials hold the rank of major general. All were chiefs of regional interior ministry departments except one who was the head of the ministry's law institute, according to a Kremlin statement.

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Russian Toddler Survives Six-Floor Trash Chute Fall

Russian investigators launched a probe Wednesday against a couple suspected of throwing their toddler into a trash chute from the sixth floor of an apartment building.

The two-year-old survived the fall down the narrow chute and neighbors discovered him on the trash heap of the apartment building in the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg on Tuesday after they heard him crying.

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Putin Slams West for Libya 'Medieval Crusade', Medvedev Says Remarks Unacceptable

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday slammed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's comments on military action against Libya as "unacceptable", in the most public clash yet between Russia's ruling tandem.

Putin earlier Monday denounced the U.N. resolution allowing military action on Libya as resembling a "medieval call to crusade", in one of his most virulent diatribes against the West in years.

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Russia Bans 'Putin-Medvedev' Vodka Brand

Russia has banned a firm from registering as a trademark a brand of vodka whose name appears to play on the names of its ruling duo, Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday.

Russia's patent agency refused to allow a company to register as a trademark the name "Volodya and Medvedi," with Volodya a diminutive of Vladimir, and Medvedi, or bears, sounding similar to the surname Medvedev, it reported.

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Blast Near FSB Security Service Academy in Moscow

An explosion went off Wednesday at a bus stop close to the training center for Russia's FSB security service in Moscow, without causing casualties, the national anti-terror committee said.

"An explosive device went off at a bus stop at Michurinsky Avenue where the FSB academy is located," a committee spokesman told Agence France Presse.

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Reports: Six Dead as Plane Crashes in Russia

At least six crew members, including two citizens of Myanmar, died when a plane they were testing crashed in central Russia on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported.

Six crew members died when the AN-148 plane crashed and burst into flames on Saturday morning around 160 kilometers east of the city of Belgorod, the emergency ministry said in a statement, citing preliminary data.

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Medvedev: Libya on Verge of Civil War

Libya is on the verge of civil war, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, in one of the starkest warnings yet by a world leader over the situation in the country.

"This is an extreme situation," he told Russia's Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu, according to state news agency ITAR-TASS.

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'Political Corpse' Gadhafi Must Quit, Says Kremlin

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is a "living political corpse" who has no place in the civilized world and must quit power, the Interfax news agency quoted a Kremlin source as saying Tuesday.

"We believe that even if Gadhafi now manages to dig himself in, he is a living political corpse who has no place in the modern civilized world," the source said in Russia's first clear call for the Libyan leader to quit.

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Israel Worried Russian Missiles Would End up in Hizbullah’s Hands

Israel has expressed concern over Russia’s decision to fulfill its contract to supply Syria with cruise missiles, saying they could end up in the hands of Hizbullah.

"The question of these missiles' delivery to Syria really has triggered a negative reaction in Israel," the Israeli ambassador to Moscow, Dorit Golender, told the Interfax news agency.

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Russia Vows to Sell Missiles to Syria

Russia announced Saturday that it intended to fulfill its contract to supply Syria with supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles despite furious condemnation of the deal by Israel.

"The contract is in the implementation stage," news agencies quoted Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying.

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