Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated on Tuesday that history has proven that popular movements cannot slow down, but they only gain momentum.

He said citing late Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Havel: “If only Russia and Iran would consider the ‘power of the powerless’ in their approach towards the Syrian crisis.”

Iran has no long-range missiles, a Russian defense official said Tuesday in Moscow's first response to a series of tests conducted by Tehran near the vital Strait of Hormuz oil supply route.

"Iran does not have the technology to create intermediate or long-range inter-continental ballistic missiles," defense ministry spokesman Vadim Koval told the Interfax news agency.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour praised on Saturday Russia’s position on the Syrian crisis, noting that it had called against foreign meddling in the Arab state since the beginning of the unrest.

He made his statements after holding a meeting with Russian Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin during which he received a letter from his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the situation in Syria.

Russian riot police arrested dozens of people on Saturday in Moscow and Saint Petersburg who tried to stage unsanctioned New Year's Eve protests against 12 years of Vladimir Putin's dominant rule.

The show of police force marked the first time the authorities had cracked down on members of the Russian opposition since allowing two massive rallies on December 10 and December 24.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Saturday said there was nothing unusual in the mass protests against his domination of Russia, describing the turbulence as the "unavoidable price of democracy.”

Tens of thousands took to the streets on December 10 and December 24 to denounce the alleged rigging of parliamentary elections and the Russian strongman himself, ahead of his candidacy in March presidential polls.

Russian firefighters on Friday put out flames on a nuclear submarine undergoing repairs near Norway after almost a day-long blaze that raised concerns about the security of Russia's ageing fleet.

The rubberized coating on the Delta IV class submarine Yekaterinburg caught fire Thursday afternoon at a dock in the Far Northern Murmansk region, the latest serious accident to have struck Russia's navy in the past years.

Nine people were injured when a huge fire engulfed a Russian nuclear submarine as it was being repaired, Interfax news agency reported Friday, but officials said all weapons had been removed and there was no radiation risk.

Firefighters launched a massive operation to douse the flames after the blaze broke out Thursday on the 11,740-tonne Yekaterinburg while it was docked in the northern Murmansk region near Russia's border with Norway, sending flames and smoke billowing into the sky.

Police have discovered a huge stash of contraband caviar stored in a hospital morgue freezer alongside dead bodies in Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg, officials said Thursday.

Kept in large canisters marked "Aviation Security. Inspected," the stash of both red and black caviar weighed 175 kilograms (385 pounds) -- a haul that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars (euros) on the open market.

Russia urged its ally Syria on Wednesday to provide as much freedom as possible for observers from the Arab League that began their first inspections of flashpoint cities this week.

"We constantly work with the Syrian leadership calling on it to fully cooperate with observers from the Arab League and to create work conditions that are as comfortable and free as possible," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference with his Egyptian counterpart.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday named the Kremlin official credited with designing Russia's tightly-controlled political system as deputy prime minister in charge of a modernization drive.

The appointment of Vladislav Surkov, until now Kremlin first deputy chief of staff, comes as Russia's rulers scramble to reassert their authority amid a wave of protests against the conduct of parliamentary elections.