Russia on Tuesday urged an end to "ultimatums" against its Middle East ally Syria after the approval of Arab League sanctions and a call from Washington and the EU for an immediate end to violence.

"Right now, the most important thing is to stop acting by means of ultimatums and try to move toward political dialogue," Interfax quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

Russia will send a flotilla of warships led by its only aircraft carrier to its naval base in Syria for a port call next year amid tensions with the West over the Syrian crisis, a report said Monday.

The ships, headed by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, will dock at the little-utilized Russian base in the Syrian port of Tartous in spring 2012, the Izvestia daily said, quoting the Russian navy.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on Sunday agreed to be the ruling party candidate in 2012 presidential elections that he is certain to win and that will fix the country's political future.

His nomination at a glitzy congress of United Russia was a formality after President Dmitry Medvedev announced in September he would give way for Putin in the March 2012 polls and instead take the job of prime minister.

A top Russian opposition group accused Vladimir Putin's ruling party on Saturday of preparing to win next week's parliamentary polls through fraud and threatened mass protests in case of an unfair result.

A Moscow rally organized by A Just Russia -- the smallest of four parties in the State Duma lower house of parliament -- drew some 500 protesters to a small square near the Kremlin under threatening skies.

Russia on Friday took control of the Belarus gas pipeline network in an economic rescue deal that will help Minsk survive isolation by the West and increase the Kremlin's influence over its neighbor.

Russian gas giant Gazprom said it would pay $2.5 billion to take the 50 percent stake it does not own in Beltransgaz in a deal easing pressure on the depleted treasury of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

Russia said Friday ahead of the expiry of a new Arab League ultimatum on Syria that it opposed pressure and sanctions against its traditional Arab ally and wanted to see a renewal of political dialogue.

"At this stage, what we need is not resolutions, sanctions or pressure, but inter-Syrian dialogue," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a televised press briefing.

The upper house of Russia's parliament on Friday formally set March 4, 2012 as the date for the presidential election, a vote expected to see Vladimir Putin return to the top job.

"The elections for the president of Russia are set for March 4, 2012," the Federation Council said in a statement on its website after senators approved the date in a vote called for under the constitution.

President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will aim its missiles at the U.S. missile defense sites in Europe if Washington fails to address Russian concerns on its missile defense plans.

Medvedev said that Russia will deploy missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region and other areas if Russia and NATO fail to reach a deal on the U.S.-led missile defense plans.

China said Wednesday a U.N. human rights resolution condemning Syria's deadly eight-month crackdown on anti-government protestors was "counterproductive".

China was among 41 nations to abstain from voting on the resolution, which strongly condemns "continued grave and systematic human rights violations" by Syria that the United Nations estimates has left more than 3,500 dead.

Russia said on Tuesday new sanctions unveiled by Western states against Iran over its nuclear drive were unacceptable and illegal, warning they risked impeding the chance of dialogue with Tehran.

"Russia sees such measures as unacceptable and against international law," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "This practice seriously complicates moves for constructive dialogue with Tehran."