“The introduction of all sorts of collective sanctions bypassing international institutions does not improve the situation in the world while reckless military operations in foreign states usually end up with radicals coming to power,” he told an international legal forum in St. Petersburg.

“At some point such actions, which undermine state sovereignty, may well end in a full-blown regional war and even – I’m not trying to spook anyone – the use of nuclear weapons,” he said.

The right of nations to choose their own path of development is a universal value, he said referring to the situation in Syria and the Middle East as a whole ahead of a G8 summit.

A Kremlin aide said earlier on Thursday the Group of Eight industrial nations meeting outside Washington on May 18-19 will begin with talks on Syria and Iran.

Dmitry Medvedev, who is attending the meeting instead of President Vladimir Putin, will hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, Arkady Dvorkovich said.

The crooked cop, Alexey Zorin, on May 16 arrived at a department of Raiffeisen Bank located in northern Moscow. He provided a fake passport and other forged documents and withdrew the money, the Interior Ministry said. Zorin was arrested when trying to withdraw an additional 25,000 euro in another bank.

A criminal fraud case has been opened. Investigators believe that Zorin was a member of a band of crooked cops that organized the crime. Three other people, one of them a policeman, have been detained as part of the same investigation.

“This new type of a ground attack aircraft has been included in the state arms procurement program,” Zelin, who is an aide to the defense minister, told a news conference in Voronezh (central Russia). “It will be put in service with the Air Force by 2020.”

The new aircraft will be capable of carrying of a wide range of tactical weaponry and advanced radar and navigation equipment.

It will feature elements of stealth technology and will be able to land on short runways.

The new combat jet will eventually replace the modernized Su-25SM attack aircraft now entering service.

Russia will continue to upgrade its outdated to the Su-25SM version, which has a significantly better survivability and combat effectiveness than earlier versions.

The Russian Air Force currently has over 30 Su-25SM planes in service and plans to modernize about 80 Su-25s by 2020.

Meanwhile, the Russian military has abandoned plans to develop a light attack plane based on Yak-130 combat trainer.

Zelin said the prototype, dubbed Yak-131, had not met the requirements for enhansed protection of pilots.

Su-25 attack aircraft. Specifications

The 62-year-old man, identified by the news site Life News as private Russian Icon museum director Nikolai Zadorozhny, was carrying the 1690 icon Old Testament Trinity.

The picture, made by artist Kirill Ulanov, had been on an international wanted list since it was stolen from a museum in the central Vologda region in 1994.

Zadorozhny, who has a previous criminal record, denies any wrongdoing, claiming he bought it from a private holder in Germany.

Police said they acted on a tip-off.

Yashin was arrested among some 30 people during a “people’s stroll” protest which gathered hundreds of opposition activists at central Kudrinskaya Square on Wednesday evening.

The activists moved to the square after a Moscow court outlawed their tent camp at central Chistye Prudy neighborhood on Tuesday. More than 20 camping protesters were detained earlier on Wednesday for refusing to clear the site.

Several activists were arrested at Kudrinskaya Square later in the day when they neglected a police demand to shut down an improvised buffet at the site. More arrests followed when activists, including Yashin, briefly blocked a nearby road, surrounding paddy wagons and demanding the release of those detained.

The protesters accused police of stealing their food and a moneybox with some 200,000 rubles ($6,400). Police denied theft allegations and said the protesters did not have the right to distribute food in the streets.

Another six activists were detained on Thursday for distributing food at the square.

Two other opposition figureheads, anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny and Left Front movement leader Sergei Udaltsov, have been jailed for 15 days for disobeying police orders.

Despite police crackdowns, the activists intend to continue their 24/7 rally until mid-June.

The Soyuz-U orbited on Thursday a Cosmos-series reconnaissance satellite to expand Russia’s Oko (Eye) orbital missile early warning network, which consists of about 70 satellites.

“The launch on May 17 of a medium class Soyuz-U carrier rocket from Plesetsk was the last for this type of launch vehicles,” Zolotukhin said.

The first launch of a Soyuz-U was conducted from the Plesetsk Space Center on May 18, 1973. A total of 434 launches have been carried out, orbiting about 430 spacecraft.

“The Soyuz-U will be replaced by Soyuz-2 and Angara-A3 medium class carrier rockets,” Zolotukhin said.

The man, whose name was withheld, picked an opportune moment for the carjacking, climbing into the freshly repaired vehicle left unguarded with keys in the ignition, police in the republic of Udmurtia in the Volga federal district said on their website.

The car theft took place on Monday, but was not discovered until Wednesday, when the medics were due to pick up their vehicle, the report said.

The car turned turned up in a nearby yard, where police staked out to apprehend the driver, who was caught with the car keys on him, the report said.

The man faces up to five years in prison over the incident. It remained unclear what prompted the theft, but the vehicle added 540 kilometers to the odometer, and the man’s cellphone had outgoing messages saying: “Doing side jobs with the ambulance.”

Police did not elaborate on the side jobs, but media previously reported that some ambulances in Moscow take passengers who are in a hurry, abusing their road privileges and getting through the country’s massive traffic jams to ensure speedy delivery to their destination.

According to the pollster, Putin’s ratings hit 56% in the second half of 2010, but dropped to 43% in 2011 gradually rising to 54% on the eve of the March 4 presidential elections.

Putin won a landslide victory at the elections and will rule Russia for at least six years in tandem with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The ratings of the ruling United Russia party grew to 47% in contrast with December 2011 when they dropped to 30% during general elections.

Ratings of former presidential candidates and other registered political parties have not changed since March, except those of A Just Russia party, which saw its popularity drop from 8% to 6%.

The poll was conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation among 3,000 respondents in 64 regions of Russia.

The ruble-denominated MICEX closed 3.5 percent lower, at 1,287.79 points, below the psychologically important level of 1,300, hitting an eight-month low, while the dollar-denominated RTS plunged by 4.4 percent to 1,313.31, the lowest level since October 2011.

The ruble fell by 13 kopecks against the dollar to 31.06 rubles and by 5 kopecks against the euro to 39.47 rubles at the close of the trading session.

Investors’ fears about the spread of the political crisis in Greece continue to drive increased investor risk aversion and slumping capital markets worldwide, including Russia. Thursday’s fears have been added to by news that the European Central Bank has stopped proving extra liquidity to Greek banks until they implement recapitalization plans.

In international foreign exchange markets, the euro is trading at slightly above $1.27 and may extend further losses. The price of Brent crude, a benchmark for the Russian stock market, has also continued to fall further, below $110 per barrel.

The withdrawal was not due to Andrei Sychyov’s disability, but to the fact that he did not represent himself at a meeting with bank clerks, prompting suspicions that he was not the person that the loan was really intended for, VTB24 bank’s representatives said, Uralweb.ru reported on Thursday.

Bank officials in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals, where Sychyov resides, said earlier that they do not hand out loans to people with severe disabilities, online tabloid Lifenews.ru reported.

Sychyov, who was seeking a car loan for a Subaru Forrester, threatened to sue for 1.6 million rubles ($51,000) in damages. It remained unclear whether he intended to withdraw the suit.

Sychyov, who works as a video editor on regional television, obtained a loan at another unspecified bank, but VTB24 proposed a better loan by means of apology, Uralweb.ru said.

Sychyov made national headlines in 2006, when he had both legs and his genitalia amputated after a prolonged hazing session at his military unit. The incident highlighted the problems of the Russian Army, notorious for its widespread unofficial practices of abusing conscripts.

Russia’s disabled are often discriminated in the country, which lacks infrastructure for and offers insufficient opportunities to people with special needs.