Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday held calls with the leaders of Israel and Iran, the Kremlin said, offering mediation amid protests in Iran that have raised fears of a military confrontation in the region.

Ukraine said it hoped the two countries would discuss the release of prisoners and lay the ground for a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had fired 206 drones and nine missiles and added that "the air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare and unmanned systems units, and mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Defense Forces".

The Kremlin said Saturday a meeting between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement, a day after the first direct talks between the two countries in more than three years.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine in recent days, and said "maybe he doesn't want to stop the war."

The Kremlin on Monday called for a de-escalation in the Middle East after Iran's unprecedented weekend attack on Israel. "We are extremely concerned about the escalation of tensions in the region and we call on all countries in the region to exercise restraint. Further escalation is in no one's interests,"...

Moscow, Russia - The Kremlin on Friday blasted as "unacceptable" French President Emmanuel Macron's claims that Russia was trying to undermine the Paris Olympics through a disinformation campaign. Macron had said Thursday that Moscow was trying to promote the narrative that France was unable to host the Games and that the...

Ballots will also be cast in the four Ukrainian regions Moscow claimed to have annexed in 2022, as well as the Crimean peninsula, seized in 2014. Moscow is no longer worried about trying to present the vote as a legitimate democratic exercise to the West, or even Russian society.

Moscow, Russia – BRICS will work to create an independent payment system based on digital currencies and blockchain, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Tuesday. "We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future, which would be based on state-of-the-art tools such as...

Asked by a journalist who Russia would like to see win in the likely contest between the Democratic incumbent and Republican frontrunner Trump, Putin said: "Biden, he's more experienced. He's predictable, he's an old-school politician."

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered assistance in helping to deescalate the tense situation in the Gaza Strip, according to the Kremlin's press service. This offer was made during a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The Russian side is ready to offer all possible...

Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Riyadh underscores the deepening economic and diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Moscow's all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022 provided Europe with a wake-up call that it needed to pump more into defense to be able to confront the threat of its bellicose eastern neighbor.

San Francisco, US - US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will try to prevent the superpowers' rivalry spilling into conflict when they meet for the first time in a year at a high-stakes summit in San Francisco on Wednesday. With tensions soaring over issues including Taiwan, sanctions and...

Moscow, Russia - Russia on Monday blamed "external interference" for an anti-Israel riot that closed an airport in the Muslim-majority region of Dagestan the previous day. "Yesterday's events at Makhachkala airport are, to a large extent, the result of external interference," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Russian police on Monday...

Moscow, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday that the Israel-Palestine conflict could potentially extend beyond the Middle East, Reuters reported. Russian leader stressed the need to protect innocent civilians, during a meeting with religious leaders of various faiths in the Kremlin and called for an end to...

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russian President Vladimir Putin will host his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, the Kremlin said, amid hopes the two can restore a deal ensuring safe passage for grain shipments. Russia pulled out from the UN-backed grain agreement that Turkey helped broker in July, effectively revoking safe...

Prigozhin, 62, was buried on Tuesday in a private ceremony in his native Saint Petersburg, more than two months after he staged a short-lived mutiny that posed a serious challenge for the Kremlin. Authorities said the Western-sanctioned businessman died when his private jet went down along with nine other people...

The Kremlin dismissed rumors it orchestrated the death of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, presumed dead in a plane crash two months after leading a mutiny in Russia. It announced by decree that paramilitary fighters will have to swear an oath to the Russian flag, as part of measures to rein...

Moscow, Russia - Moscow accused Poland and Finland of threatening its security on Wednesday and vowed a response to multiplying "threats" on Russia's western frontier from NATO members. Poland, Ukraine's staunch ally and neighbor, has strengthened security on its border with Belarus after Minsk became a new base for Russian Wagner...

The move by Moscow will "strike a blow to people in need everywhere", Guterres said. "Hundreds of millions of people face hunger and consumers are confronting a global cost-of-living crisis. They will pay the price," the UN chief said.

Erdogan has voiced repeated frustrations with what he calls Sweden's failure to keep its promise to deal with suspected Kurdish militants allegedly "roaming the streets" of Stockholm. "Sweden has taken some steps in the right direction," Erdogan's office quoted the Turkish leader as telling Biden in a call Sunday.

After Putin's speech accusing him of treason, Prigozhin launched a second broadside. "On treason of the motherland: the president is deeply wrong. We are patriots of our motherland," Prigozhin said. "Nobody plans to turn themselves in at the request of the president, the FSB or anyone else." Russia's headquarters in...

Russia has for years been issuing passports to people living in the eastern Donbas areas held by pro-Moscow separatists since 2014 as well as in annexed Crimea.

In a world where Turkey and Russia are both sceptical of Western military, political and economic dominance, Putin and Erdogan see each other as reliable partners. "Russia must have breathed a sigh of relief," said a Western diplomat, referring to the outcome of the first round on May 14.

Terming it as a "planned terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the President of the Russian Federation," Moscow said that two unmanned vehicles were aimed at the Kremlin and the devices were "put out of action." The statement said that Russia reserves the right to take retaliatory...

The Kremlin said oil output cuts by Russia, Saudi Arabia and other major producers that have caused prices to soar are "in the interests" of global markets. The surprise move on Sunday came as oil prices have cooled in recent months after soaring last year following the start of the...

The two leaders "will discuss deepening the exhaustive partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China", including on the international stage, the Kremlin said, adding, "important bilateral documents will be signed". The visit will come just over a year into Moscow's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

"Dear Mr President, I am very glad to see you in Moscow. Thank you for accepting our invitation," Putin told Assad at the start of their meeting broadcast by state TV. "We are in constant contact and our relations are developing."

The Russian foreign ministry on Friday thanked Chinese efforts but said that any settlement of the conflict needed to recognise Russia's control over four Ukrainian regions. Russia claims to have annexed the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson but never fully controlled them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his...

Moscow, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday the new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile will be deployed this year following US reports that the weapon failed a recent test. The Sarmat -- dubbed Satan 2 by Western analysts -- is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and is among Russia's...

Russian president said that he realized China has its own domestic political agenda and that the two countries were working to sort out all related issues.

Despite a Russian intervention to cool down tensions between Damascus and Ankara, a new Turkish ground offensive in Syria is "possible any time", according to a top aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Russia has been trying to end more than a decade of hostility between the neighbors.

Algeria "doesn't support the idea of limiting prices", Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab said, speaking a day after EU energy ministers agreed a temporary ceiling to mitigate a severe energy crunch following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "Energy markets must stay free so upstream" investments can continue, he told a press conference,...

Erdogan told Putin in a phone call on Sunday that is was "important to clear the (Kurdish fighters) from the border to a depth of at least 30 kilometers," his office said.

The $60 oil price cap will come into effect on Monday or soon after, alongside an EU embargo on maritime deliveries of Russian crude oil.

The price cap is designed to make it harder to bypass the sanctions by selling beyond the EU. Poland's ambassador Andrzej Sados also said Brussels would take into account Polish and Baltic state suggestions for a "painful and expensive" ninth round of sanctions against Moscow. The White House described the...

The EU has agreed sanctions against three individuals and one entity supplying Iranian drones to Russia that have been used to bomb Ukraine, the EU's Czech presidency said on Thursday. "After three days of talks, EU ambassadors agreed on measures against entities supplying Iranian drones that hit Ukraine," the presidency...

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - President Vladimir Putin does not plan to end a military mobilization in Russia "yet" but some of the country's regions completed the process, the Kremlin said Tuesday. "For the moment, there is no presidential decree (on ending mobilization)," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He spoke a day...

The Kremlin said that the investigation into the explosions that tore through the Nord Stream gas pipelines was being 'tailored' to place the blame on Russia.

Moscow---The Kremlin said Thursday that an OPEC+ decision to sharply cut production was designed to stabilize global oil markets, after Washington said the move was a concession to Moscow. "The decisions that were taken were aimed at stabilising oil markets," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He said it was proof...

The latest package -- the eighth since Russia's invasion in February -- is now going through a final approval procedure which, if no objections emerge, will be published and come into effect on Thursday, the Czech Republic's EU ambassador said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone to express their satisfaction over a prisoner-of-war swap between Moscow and Kyiv facilitated by Riyadh, the Kremlin said Friday. During a phone call late Thursday the two leaders expressed "satisfaction in connection with the transfer to...

The Kremlin on Tuesday warned it would respond if the European Union makes it harder for Russians to travel to the bloc as part of measures in support of Ukraine. The idea to ban Russian tourists from Europe has divided EU nations, with some in full support and others against...

The new measure allow Ukrainian citizens and people from Ukraine's separatist eastern regions that Russia recognizes as independent to work in Russia without a work permit and to live in the country "without a time limit".

Finland on Saturday sought to allay Moscow's fears about its bid to join NATO, as fierce fighting raged in Ukraine's east, slowing a Russian advance. One of Europe's fiercest conflicts since World War II has seen more than six million people flee for their lives, and according to Kyiv has...

Finland took a step Thursday towards fast-track NATO membership, triggering a blunt warning from the Kremlin, as the war in Ukraine throttled supplies of Russian gas to Europe and the number of people who fled the country passed six million. In Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council decided to probe...

The European Union warned member states Monday to prepare for a possible complete breakdown in gas supplies from Russia, insisting it would not cede to Moscow's demand that imports be paid for in rubles. The European Commission will on Tuesday propose to member states a new package of sanctions to...

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron on his re-election and defeat of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, the Kremlin said Monday, as tensions remain over the Ukraine conflict. Macron was one of the few Western leaders to contact Putin since Moscow moved troops into Ukraine.

Russian forces, which withdrew from around Kyiv and the north of Ukraine earlier this month after being frustrated in their attempts to take over the capital, already occupy much of the eastern Donbas region and the south.