Washington, Nov. 17 : Russia has announced that it will not carry out its threats to deploy new missiles facing Europe and that the advent of a new U. S. administration provides "great opportunities" to overcome other differences with the United States.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced this in Washington on Saturday on the sidelines of a G-20 leaders’ meeting that was discussing solutions for arresting the global economic meltdown.

Moscow - Three Kremlin-friendly opposition parties merged Sunday into a new liberal party called Just Cause.

The parties, who failed to win seats in the Russian parliament or Duma in elections in 2007, joined forces with an eye on the next vote in 2011.

At the party's inaugural congress on Sunday, the initiators said the move had been discussed with the Kremlin, according to Moscow radio broadcaster Echo Moskvy.

The party had been formed with the help of the Kremlin, but not by the Russian government, said Leonid Gosman, deputy chairman of the Union of Just Forces (SPS).

The SPS and its two allies, the Democratic Party and the Citizens' Force, disbanded to to form the new union.

Washington - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday the United States and Russia share "no trust" in relations but suggested the two countries can begin to heal ties without first resolving the dispute over missile defence.

Speaking after the gathering of 20 world economic powers in Washington to address the financial crisis, Medvedev said there is "no trust in Russian-US relations - the trust we need" to tackle international challenges and strengthen ties.

Washington  - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he was satisfied with the steps that the world's largest economies agreed to enact during an emergency summit in Washington on Saturday to address the financial crisis.

"I'd like to say I am satisfied with the results we've achieved," Medvedev told a gathering at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank after attending the Group of 20 summit hosted by US President George W Bush.

Moscow - Three liberal parties currently not represented in the Russian parliament (Duma) have decided to join forces under the new party name "Just Cause," Russia media reported Saturday.

The parties - the Union of Just Forces (SPS), the Democratic party and the Citizens' Force - announced on Saturday in Moscow that they would be disbanding and forming a unit to contest March 2009 parliamentary elections, former SPS deputy chairman Leonid Gosman was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

Moscow - One man was killed and two injured in an exchange of fire in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia on Saturday, officials in the Abkhazian capital Sukhumi said.

The clash took place after Abkhazian border troops discovered a group of six people attempting to cross the border from mainland Georgia near the city of Gali, the Interfax agency cited Abkhazian officials as saying.

The casualties in the firefight were said to be intruders, who Abkhazia claims were Georgian saboteurs.

There was no comment from the Georgian side on the incident.