Moscow  - Russia plans to create a military force directed at defending its interests in the Arctic by 2020, the National Security Council said in a strategy document published Friday.

The reported posted on the council's web site outlined the government's plan to set up a special force "to guarantee Russia's military security in diverse military and political circumstances."

A spokesman for the council told news agency Ria-Novosti that Russia's strategy did not signal confrontation.

Moscow  - President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday said Russia is ready to consider downgrading its anti-terrorist operations in Chechnya, where it has fought separatists in two wars in the early 1990s, the news agency Interfax reported.

"Since the situation in the Chechen republic has normalized to a large degree and life is returning to normal ... I propose we consider ending the counterterrorism regime which operates in Chechnya," Medvedev told the head of Russia's FSB security services.

Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia  - Sweden's Helena Jonsson clinched the women's biathlon World Cup sprint title as Tina Bachmann led a German one-two in the 7.5-kilometre sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk Friday.

Bachmann, 22, made no shooting errors to cross the line in 20 minutes 49.8 seconds, with team-mate Simone Hauswald also without a mistake, 3.7 seconds back.

Sweden's Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek was third, 19.3 seconds behind Bachmann.

Moscow - An Iranian delegation in Moscow on Friday said they would not meet with US delegates on the sidelines of the international summit on Afghanistan, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia had earlier this week said it would be ready to facilitate talks between US and Iranian diplomats

Moscow - Washington is still in negotiations with Kyrgyzstan that may allow it to avert the closure of an air base in the Central Asian state key to supplying troops in northern Afghanistan, a top US administration official said Friday.

"We have received an offer to negotiate from Kyrgyzstan, and there is a possibility that our deal on the use of this base remains effective," the US official told journalists in Moscow, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Moscow  - Russia called on Friday for North Korea to hold back from testing a long-range missile, warning Pyongyang against an "unnecessary fanning of emotions" in the region.

"The situation now in the North-East Asia region is tense, and it would be better for our partners in North Korea to hold back from this launch ... there is no need for an unnecessary fanning of emotions," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin told journalists.