Russia said Friday it "categorically" rejected the idea it was siding with Bashar Assad's regime in the Syria conflict, after Moscow's position was slammed at the Friends of Syria meeting in Paris.

"I categorically reject the formulation that Russia supports (President) Bashar Assad's regime in the situation that has developed in Syria," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

It was once one of the most prestigious places to live in the whole Soviet Union, with good salaries, an idyllic waterfront and away from the prying eyes of the secret services.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Akademgorodok -- a highbrow town outside Siberia's main city of Novosibirsk, created in the 1950s for academics to live and work -- fell on hard times.

Russia said Friday it was studying a new five-billion-euro ($6.2-billion) loan request from Cyprus that it needs to shore up its struggling banks from financial turmoil rocking nearby Greece.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov confirmed that the assistance package was separate from one he said the Mediterranean island nation had also made from the European Union in hopes of injecting its finance system with cash.

A world meeting on Syria urged the U.N. Friday to use the threat of sanctions to force change in Syria as President Bashar Assad was rocked by the defection of one of his most senior generals.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also rounded on Russia and China, telling delegates from over 100 countries gathered in Paris that the two veto-wielding U.N. Security Council members were blocking progress towards peace.

Two key figures of the Syrian opposition against President Bashar Assad are due in Moscow next week as Russia seeks to promote dialogue as the way out of the Syrian crisis, a report said Friday.

Russia on Wednesday will host the new head of the exiled Syrian National Council (SNC), Abdel Basset Sayda, a Foreign Ministry source told the Interfax news agency.

Drivers are up in arms after Russian police declared war on the dark tinted glass ubiquitous in cars from humble Ladas to limousines, while stars complain they can no longer hide away from their fans.

Under a new law that came into force July 1, police have the powers to remove the number plates of cars that have dark tinting unless the driver scrapes off the protective film on the spot.

Russia on Thursday confirmed receiving requests from its Western partners to help end the conflict in Syria by offering President Bashar Assad asylum, but said it had dismissed the idea as a joke.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the idea was first raised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in her June meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first trip to Europe since his election to a third term.

Russia is offering Cyprus more favorable conditions than the EU and IMF as the Mediterranean island seeks aid to shore up its banks, Cypriot President Demetris Christofias said Wednesday.

"The conditions offered by Russia are more favorable" because it does not "impose any conditions" and offers "a lower interest rate," Christofias, a communist, told the European Parliament.

Britain and France Wednesday said there could be no political transition in Syria with President Bashar Assad and urged Russia to stop backing its traditional ally.

The comments by British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius came after world powers agreed in Geneva on Saturday on a plan for transition in Syria.

Russia on Wednesday said "certain progress" had been reached at expert-level talks on Iran's nuclear program despite the Islamic Republic's tough terms for scaling back its enrichment activities.

Tuesday's meeting in Istanbul was held after a fourth round of talks between top negotiators on the escalating crisis held in Moscow last month ended in stalemate.