Moscow - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday named a new tsar to oversea Russia's preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Regional development minister Dmitry Kozak was promoted to deputy prime minister for the job.

Kozak warned last week the financial crisis pushed Russian shares to their lowest point since the national default in 1998 could force the state to fork up more cash for the constructions marathon run-up to the Games.

Geneva - A Geneva-hosted top meeting on Georgia between French and Russian leaders due Wednesday has been downgraded to one at "expert" level involving officials from Russia, the European Union, the US and UN, it was stated Tuesday.

The decision was taken because a meeting had already taken place in the French Lake Geneva resort of Evian last week between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, current EU Council head, UN officials said in Geneva.

Beijing - Russia on Tuesday formally returned to China half of an island that was seized in 1929 by troops of the former Soviet Union during a border skirmish.

Chinese and Russian diplomats and defence officials held a ceremony to unveil new boundary markerson Heixiazi (Bolshoi Ussuriysky) Island in a border river, the government said.

The two nations signed a final agreement in July on disputed areas along their 4,300-kilometre border, with Russia reportedly conceding 174 square kilometres, including two small islands in the river.

Moscow - Russia's MICEX index surged by over 11 per cent Tuesday following gains on world markets and boosted by higher oil prices, prompting regulators to change the threshold for automatic market closures to minimize what have become chronic interruptions in trading.

The ruble-denominated MICEX was up 11.02 per cent to 739.78 points at 2:05 pm (1005 GMT) after an hour-long -suspension in morning trading.

The rise on the MICEX, where most Russian stocks are traded, was led for a second day running by banks Sberbank and VTB Group on news of government loans to banks as well as Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil, trading on a rise in global oil prices.

The dollar-denominated RTS added 6.9 per cent to 845.81 points by 2:05 pm.

Moscow - Texan millionaire space tourist Richard Gariott and two professional astronauts docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday after two days of cramped orbit aboard the Russian Soyuz shuttle.

Mission commander Michael Fincke of NASA and Russian flight engineer Yury Lonchakov, both on their second trip to space, joined Gariott in the capsule that blasted off from the Baikonour base on the barren steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday.

The Soyuz craft successfully latched on to the ISS a few minutes ahead of schedule at 12:26 pm Moscow time (0926 GMT) and was expected to relieve the three space station residents after their toilettes went on the fritz this week.

Brussels - The "strategic deal" which the European Union is currently refusing to negotiate with Russia is a sweeping legal agreement designed to regulate the relationship for years to come.

At present, the relationship between the two sides is governed by a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) negotiated with the government of Boris Yeltsin in 1997.

The PCA is a contract governing matters such as trade, investment, environmental protection, tourism, and cultural exchanges.