Moscow - A man was injured by an explosion Tuesday near the Russian Black Sea resort of Sotchi, host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics, the state-run RIA Novosti agency reported.

The explosives were hidden in a beer can and the 28-year-old lost a hand when he found it on his car and attempted to throw it away.

The explosion brings the number of incidents in the area this year to six. Since April, four people have died as a result of attacks while two dozen have been injured.

Moscow - The sting of the financial crisis was the main reason for the European Union in reopening talks on a partnership pact with Moscow despite EU criticism of Russia's war with Georgia in August, a top Russian lawmaker said Tuesday.

Mikhail Margelov, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, suggested that the EU's decision was driven by pure economic pragmatism.

"In Brussels they felt how uncomfortable it is to parade around for a long time with their fist clenched," he told the news agency Interfax.

Moscow/Tbilisi - Two Georgian police officers were killed when a land mine exploded near the border of South Ossetia, where Georgia went to war with Russia in August.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said the mine detonated while the policemen were on patrol in the border village of Dvani around 7:15 am (0415 GMT) on Monday.

A second mine exploded shortly after, injuring three policemen who arrived at the scene to help, the ministry said in a statement.

Dvani is just south-west of the separatist capital of South Ossetia near the Georgian of Gori in a buffer zone occupied by Russian troops until EU military observers replaced them last month.

Moscow - Investigators said deadly freon gas killed 20 people on a Russian nuclear-powered submarine Sunday when the fire safety system accidentally kicked in during a sea trial in the Sea of Japan.

It was unclear what activated the fire-extinguishing system and the military has launched further investigations, a spokesman for Russia's top investigatory committee, Sergei Markin, was quoted by news agencies as saying.

The system is designed to discharge the Freon gas coolant, which kills instantly, as the most serious of three safety methods to fight fires aboard.

Moscow  - At least 20 sailors and civilians were killed on board a Russian nuclear submarine in an accident apparently caused by a defect in the fire suppression system, a military spokesman said early Sunday.

The accident occurred in a submarine belonging to Russia's Pacific fleet with 208 people on board, Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said, according to the Interfax agency.

The official said the submarine was not damaged in the accident and no radioactivity was released. There was also no measured rise in radioactivity.

President Dmitri Medvedev was informed about the accident.

At the time of the accident, there were 208 people including 81 sailors on board. The dead included sailors and shipyard workers.

Moscow/Tbilisi - Nearly 10,000 Georgian opposition supporters demonstrated against President Mikheil Saakashvili on Friday, the first major rallies since Georgia's war with Russia in August.

The march marked the first anniversary of a police crackdown on anti-government protestors in 2007. Saakashvili then drew western condemnation when riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water guns to breakup the protests and was pushed to call snap elections.

A coalition of opposition parties renewed demands for early presidential and parliamentary elections, promising more rallies towards holding a vote in the spring of 2009.