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Main News of September 23

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A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours 23.09.2013, Sputnik International

2013-09-23T20:24+0000

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Main News of September 23

20:24 GMT 23.09.2013

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

RUSSIA

* Russian President Vladimir Putin named Russia’s priorities during its presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of former Soviet states.

* More than 40 environmental groups have written to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking him to release a Greenpeace icebreaker and its crew detained last week over protests at Gazprom’s offshore oil rig in the Arctic Ocean, the World Wildlife Fund said.

* Feminist punk group Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, currently serving a two-year jail sentence for a protest in a Russian cathedral, has gone on hunger strike over prison conditions and threats against her life allegedly made by prison staff, according to a letter published by Russian news website Lenta.ru.

* State-owned Russian Technologies, or Rostec, confirmed the sale of a 49 percent stake in arms maker Kalashnikov Corporation to private investors for 2.5 billion rubles ($75 million).

* Two police officers were killed and 16 injured in a suicide bombing Monday morning in Russia's troubled North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, according to police.

* Police in southern Russia have detained a second suspect in the recent murder of a Russian diplomat and his wife in Georgia’s breakaway republic of Abkhazia, a spokesman for Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

* A surveying expedition by Russia’s Northern Fleet has made several geographic discoveries and confirmed the formation of a new island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean, a fleet representative said Monday.

WORLD

* Iran’s foreign minister will meet on Thursday with his counterparts from six world powers negotiating with Tehran on its controversial nuclear program, Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

* Russia handed over operational control of the Russian-made Bushehr nuclear power plant to Iran in the country’s south, said a spokesman for Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom.

* A court sentenced an Armenian ex-presidential candidate to 14 years in prison for masterminding an assassination attempt against another presidential contender in January, a court source told RIA Novosti.

DEFENSE

* A Soviet-era Su-25 Frogfoot ground attack aircraft crashed during a routine training flight in Russia’s Krasnodar region, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

* The second stage of international strategic exercises, Zapad 2013 (West 2013), began at five locations in Russia and Belarus, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

* Russia’s new-generation main battle tank will feature an unmanned, remotely controlled turret that will be digitally controlled by a crew located in a separate compartment, a defense industry official said.

* The Russian navy will receive new advanced surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems next year, a defense industry executive said.

SPORT

* Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova has formally qualified for the season-ending Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) championships despite her ongoing absence with a shoulder injury, the WTA confirmed