Watchdog

Russia's mass media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has officially asked social network Facebook, e-mail service Gmail, and microblogging site Twitter to register in Russia as "organizers of information distribution."

Media reports in Russia quoted Roskomnadzor's deputy chairman, Maksim Ksenzov, as telling the "Izvestia" newspaper that the move had been made in accordance with a new law on Internet companies and bloggers.

In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law binding mail services and social networks to place personal data about Russian users only on servers in Russia as of September 2016.

The law also requires bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers to register with Roskomnadzor, and conform to the regulations that govern Russia's regular media outlets.

Last week, the Russian State Duma adopted amendments in the first reading, according to which, the law will come into force as of January 2015.

Based on Izvestia and ITAR-TASS

Activists from the group led by nationalist Eduard Limonov have taken responsibility for disrupting a concert in Moscow by legendary Russian rock musician Andrei Makarevich.

Makarevich was performing at Moscow's House of Music on September 25 when a group of people released a gas into the concert hall that made those watching the concert feel ill and forced them to exit the building temporarily.

Limonov's group, which calls itself Other Russia, posted a message on its website claiming responsibility.

The group emerged out of the now-defunct Other Russia movement, a broad opposition coalition that also included liberals like Garry Kasparov.

Limonov, its leader, is a former Kremlin critic who has supported President Vladimir Putin's intervention in Ukraine.

Pro-Kremlin lawmakers and commentators branded Makarevich a traitor after he gave concerts in Ukraine for refugees from the eastern part of the country, where government forces have been fighting pro-Russian separatists.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax