Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Geneva on Saturday for crucial talks on Iran's nuclear program, an Agence France Presse reporter said.

Lavrov flew to Geneva on Saturday to join his Western counterparts for crunch talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program, Interfax reported.

Russia said on Friday that skepticism expressed by the United States about Syria's declaration of its chemical weapons stockpiles to an international watchdog was unfounded.

Washington's U.N. envoy Samantha Power said this week that the United States was concerned about previous "broken promises" made by Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

Jailed anti-Kremlin protester Sergei Krivov, who has gone for 50 days without food in protest of his trial, is in danger and not getting medical help from prison staff, his lawyer said Thursday.

Sergei Krivov is one of 15 people being held in pretrial detention for taking part in a violent protest that was held on the eve of President Vladimir Putin's May 7, 2012 swearing in for a third term.

Pope Francis will receive Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 25, the Vatican said on Thursday, as the Roman Catholic Church seeks to improve ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Putin has previously met the pope's predecessor Benedict XVI as well as late pope John Paul II and there are hopes for what would be an historic meeting between a pope and a Russian patriarch.

The Russian economy ministry on Thursday significantly cut the country's growth forecast through 2030 due to falling investment and exports as well as an expected slowdown in retail trade.

Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev's announcement came just two weeks after Russia reported a disappointing 1.2-percent third-quarter growth figure that meant the economy would have a tough time expanding beyond two percent in 2013.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has urged President Vladimir Putin to ensure fair treatment for crew members of a Greenpeace ship held in Russia, his office said on Wednesday.

The Russian leader was "understanding" of the concerns expressed by Cameron in a phone call on Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for the prime minister's Downing Street office.

Russia is ready to host informal talks between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the opposition, ITAR-TASS quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying on Wednesday.

The news agency quoted Bogdanov, who represented Russia at talks in Geneva on Tuesday with U.S. officials and U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, as saying that the consultations "do not necessarily have to end in some sort of agreement."

Three new crew members blast off Thursday for the International Space Station (ISS) on a Russian rocket, taking with them the precious cargo of an Olympic torch for the 2014 Winter Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

In an unprecedented move, the Olympic torch will on Saturday be taken out into open space on a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts to mark Russia's hosting of the Games in February.

The United States is skeptical about Syria's declaration of its chemical weapons to an international watchdog and is still checking its accuracy, a top U.S. envoy said Tuesday.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said President Bashar Assad remained unacceptable as a leader of Syria despite his agreement to destroy all of his banned chemical arms by mid-2014.

Planned peace talks in Geneva to find a solution to solve the conflict in Syria will not take place before December, Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency quoted a source as saying Tuesday.

"The conference will take place no earlier than December," said the source close to Tuesday's three-way talks in Geneva between U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, the United States and Russia.