A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of far-eastern Russia early Sunday, the US Geological Survey reported.

The quake, which hit at 0418 GMT at a depth of 9.7 kilometers (six miles), was centered 269 kilometers from the eastern Russian city of Ozernovsky, on the southern tip of the Kamchatka peninsula.

China's new leader Xi Jinping said Saturday his first foreign trip as president to Russia had exceeded his expectations and hailed the strong partnership between the two countries after signing numerous energy deals.

"I can say that from my point of view, my visit has already achieved its aim and the results have already far exceeded my expectations," Xi told Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in comments translated into Russian and posted on the Russian government website.

Chinese Internet users have deluged the microblog of the Russian embassy in Beijing with thousands of abusive comments within days of its opening, just ahead of a visit to Moscow by China's new president Xi Jinping.

The Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949 when its forces finally triumphed in the country's long civil war, and for a time it was closely allied with its ideological counterpart in the Soviet Union.

China's new leader Xi Jinping arrived Friday in Moscow on his first foreign trip as president, to cement ties between the two countries by inking a raft of energy and investment accords.

A key deal expected to be signed between Xi and his counterpart Vladimir Putin will see Russia ramp up oil supplies to China, which is the world's biggest energy consumer.

Expert talks between world power and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program produced no breakthrough but were positive in tone, Russia's chief negotiator on the dispute said on Thursday.

"There was certain progress. It was real but insufficient to speak of a breakthrough," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters after the talks in Istanbul on Monday.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday slammed current European proposals to solve the Cyprus crisis as absurd, while Cypriot Finance Minister Michalis Sarris was set to hold further talks in Moscow over aid.

At the opening of a conference in Moscow with the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, Medvedev slammed the European strategy to bail out the near-bankrupt eurozone member.

Russia backtracked Wednesday over claims that Syrian rebels had used chemical weapons, saying the information still had to be checked.

The foreign ministry said on Tuesday it had information from Damascus the rebels had used chemical weapons in an attack that day in Aleppo province that Syria claimed killed 16 people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Moscow in a letter congratulating him on forming a new government, an Israeli official said Wednesday.

The invitation came as U.S. President Barack Obama was due in Israel on his first visit to the Jewish state since taking office more than four years ago.

Cypriot Finance Minister Michalis Sarris will seek Russian assistance on Wednesday after his island's parliament rejected the terms of an EU-IMF bailout that slapped an unprecedented levy on bank accounts.

Sarris will meet his Russian counterpart Anton Siluanov in the hope of easing the terms and winning an extension of a 2.5-billion-euro loan that Moscow afforded Nicosia in 2011.

Russians are snapping up luxury villas surrounded by lush vegetation along Spain's rugged Mediterranean coast, drawn by a mild climate and relaxed lifestyle, proving the country's ailing economy with a much-needed boost.

Sergei Maslov, 53-year-old real estate developer, and his wife Larissa, 51, from Novosibirsk in Siberia are part of this wave of Russian investors with deep pockets who are being welcomed with open arms by Spanish officials.