Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the Order of Merit in Culture and Art to Mikhail Turkish, artistic director of the Soloists Choir and leader of the Turkish Choir

Russia will take tough retaliatory measures against Denmark in the event of restrictions on the passage of tankers with Russian oil through the Baltic Straits, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The State Duma has introduced bill No. 617801-8 on the transfer of seized firearms to be disposed of, one of the authors of the bill, First Vice Speaker of the Federation Council Andrei Turchak, said.

Russia does not engage in repression on religious grounds, all violators of the law receive well-deserved punishment, the Foreign Ministry rejects such a distortion of reality

The Presidents of the Russian Federation and Tajikistan, Vladimir Putin and Emomali Rahmon, had a telephone conversation, the Kremlin's press service reported on Friday.

In Lipetsk, a lawyer of the Moscow Region Law Chamber was arrested on charges of handing over a multimillion-dollar bribe to the police.