London, Sept. 18: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that his country may unilaterally stake a claim to a part of the energy rich Arctic region.

"We must finalise and adopt a federal law on the southern border of Russia's Arctic zone," The Telegraph quoted Medvedev as telling a meeting of his country’s Security Council.

"This is our responsibility, and simply our direct duty, to our descendents. We must surely, and for the long-term future, secure Russia's interests in the Arctic," he added.

Moscow, Sept. 18 : Russian customs chiefs have uncovered an underwater pipeline that was being used to smuggle cheap vodka from Russia into the European Union.

Managua - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin Wednesday thanked Nicaragua for recognizing the breakaway Georgian provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The leftist Sandinista government of President Manuel Ortega was the second country after Russia to recognize the two provinces' independence.

Sechin, who earlier this week visited Cuba and Venezuela, said Moscow wanted to renew political and economic ties with Managua after more than 20 years' interruption.

Brussels - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday said the European Union may resume talks on a cooperation agreement with Russia, even if Moscow maintains a military presence in Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Moscow - Four law enforcement soldiers were found shot dead in the Russian Caucasus near the border with Chechnya, Ingushetia's Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

A spokesman said the members of Russia's special forces had been ambushed on the highway by unknown persons.

"As a result of shooting, all four military men who were in a vehicle died on the spot," - the spokesman was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. An investigation was under way.

Earlier in the day, Russia's FSB secret services said they had killed 10 rebel gunmen in an early morning shootout in the neighbouring Caucasus republic of Dagestan.

Warsaw - Polish parliament passed a resolution Wednesday that remembers victims of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, calling the attack to start of "the suffering of millions of Poles."