Main news of December 5

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

Thousands of people gathered in downtown Moscow on Monday to protest against alleged election fraud at this weekend's parliamentary polls, which saw a big slump in support for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party

The governing United Russia party has done well in the State Duma elections, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

Despite the lack of a level playing field, Russian voters made use of their right to express their choice in parliamentary elections, observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said