Russia's parliament on Friday postponed a debate on a controversial bill that would massively hike fines for unsanctioned protests after opposition parties threatened a boycott.

The Duma lower house was due to debate the bill in its first reading Friday, but speaker Sergei Naryshkin announced it would be postponed until Tuesday after meeting the leaders of the four parties, RIA Novosti reported.

Russia cautioned Western powers on Thursday against launching "hasty" wars that could lead to the rise of radical Islamist factions and even result in regional nuclear wars.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told a legal forum ahead of his visit to the G8 summit as Russia's official representative at Camp David that Moscow noted numerous examples of powers infringing on the sovereignty of other states.

There is still no agreement among leaders of the world's richest nations on the final text of a declaration that will touch upon the protracted conflict in Syria, a Kremlin advisor said Thursday.

The leaders of the G8 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States -- will meet Friday and Saturday for a summit at the Camp David presidential retreat near Washington.

Vladimir Putin supporters unveiled plans on Saturday to draw more than 50,000 people onto the streets of Moscow in a show of force ahead of the strongman's inauguration to a third presidential term.

Russia's current prime minister will take back the Kremlin seat he already held from 2000-2008 during a swearing-in ceremony on Monday that follows his thumping March 4 election win against only token opposition.

Russia said Thursday its dispute with the United States over missile defense was near a "dead end" and warned it might have to deploy new rockets in Europe to take out elements of the controversial shield.

"We have not been able to find mutually-acceptable solutions at this point and the situation is practically at a dead end," Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told a televised conference on missile defense issues.

Russia's president-elect Vladimir Putin on Tuesday joined over 150,000 people in a Soviet-style march through Moscow to celebrate Labor Day and show off public support ahead of his inauguration.

Accompanied by kitsch brass music and surrounded by multi-colored balloons, Putin and outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev led the most extensive May Day march in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Russia had become a freer nation during his four-year term, citing the mass protests of recent months as evidence of change.

"Spring has come to us, both literally and figuratively. I congratulate you," Medvedev said in a live television interview, his last before he hands over the presidency to Vladimir Putin.

Russia's outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev outlined his liberal credentials on Tuesday as he prepared to assume the premiership post under his mentor and successor Vladimir Putin.

Medvedev told a Kremlin meeting of Russia's political elite that he would fight for political and economic freedoms following his expected nomination to head president-elect Putin's cabinet in May.

Setting aside fears for a new arms race with the United States or the conflict in Syria, President Dmitry Medvedev took to Twitter Wednesday to reassure Russia on another burning issue -- the wellbeing of his cat.

Presidential pet Dorofey had not, contrary to press reports and frenzied Internet speculation, gone missing.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Mitt Romney on Tuesday to use his head and stop reverting to Hollywood stereotypes after the U.S. presidential hopeful branded Moscow as Washington's top foe.

"I recommend that all U.S. presidential candidates, including the candidate you mention (Romney), do at least two things," Medvedev told Russian reporters on the sidelines of a nuclear security conference in Seoul.