Main News of February 5

SPORTS

* As the world’s longest Olympic torch relay nears its end, the Olympic flame and medals arrived in the host city of Sochi

* Two-time Olympic bobsled medalist Alexander Zubkov has been given the honor of carrying the Russian flag at Friday's opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Games

WORLD

* Russia’s foreign minister met with the head of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group in exile who arrived in Moscow after weeks of delays

* Ukraine has delivered the first five main battle tanks to Thailand of a 2011 order worth over $200 million, a state-run arms exporter said

RUSSIA

* A Russian Soyuz-U rocket blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan carrying a Progress-M resupply vehicle loaded with cargo for the International Space Station

* Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to amend recent environmental legislation that critics said could allow for real estate development in Russia’s protected territories

* A senior Russian military official who oversaw international cooperation resigned because of a conflict with the new chief of the General Staff, the Kommersant newspaper said

* More than 2,300 Russians convicted of economic crimes have been amnestied since July, according to a news release from the business ombudsman's office obtained by RAPSI legal news agency