TWO young women stripped down to bikinis in central Moscow yesterday to express support for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in the latest exposure of bare flesh ahead of 2012 polls.

About 1,000 anti-Kremlin protesters rallied in Russia's second largest city today, a day after a similar demonstration in Moscow brought clashes with police and at least 170 arrests.

Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, was detained by police today as supporters of his organisation tried to hold a banned protest march in central Moscow.

Ten people were killed early today in a blaze at a Moscow striptease club that officials said may have been caused by an accident during a “fire show”.

A suspected suicide bomb tore through the Moscow metro during today’s morning rush hour, killing 30 people and wounding up to 150.

This morning's explosion in the Moscow metro has left as many as 22 people dead.