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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (C) was detained by Russian police officers during the opposition rally in central Moscow

Russian police detain opposition leader during protests

Police detained hundreds of protesters across Russia, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny, after thousands took to the streets to demonstrate against corruption and demand the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

News • 26 Mar 17

Barack Obama said US diplomats have experienced an unacceptable level of harassment in Moscow

Obama authorises US sanctions against Russia

US President Barack Obama has ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and sanctioned Russian intelligence officials who his government believes were involved in hacking US political groups in the 2016 presidential election.

sanctions • 29 Dec 16

Vladimir Putin was expected to visit the French capital

Putin shuns Paris visit over Syria talks offer

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not come to Paris next week after declining an offer to meet President Francois Hollande only for talks on Syria, a French presidency source said.

News • 11 Oct 16

An elderly woman casts her ballot in front of a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a polling station in Moscow, Russia

Russia's Putin hails victory in parliament vote

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the ruling United Russia party won today's parliamentary election.

News • 19 Sep 16

Tayyip Erdogan met Vladimir Putin earlier today

Erdogan meets Putin in Russia to rebuild ties

Russia and Turkey have taken a big step towards normalising ties as Russian President Vladimir Putin met his visiting Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan.

News • 09 Aug 16

Turkey had previously refused to apologise to Russia over the incident

Turkey ready to pay Russia compensation over jet

Turkey is ready "if necessary" to pay compensation to Russia after it shot down one of Moscow's military jets over Syria in November, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has said.

News • 28 Jun 16

Vladimir Putin's remarks followed a visit to Moscow by US Secretary of State John Kerry

Putin broadly supports US plans for Syrian peace

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he broadly supported US plans to try to push forward the Syria peace process.

News • 17 Dec 15

Vladimir Putin made the remarks in his annual state of the nation address

Putin vows never to forget Turkish actions

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed never to forget Turkey's downing of one of his country's warplanes, as he lashed out once again at the Turkish government over the incident.

News • 03 Dec 15

Silvio Berlusconi welcomes Vladimir Putin to Rome in 2012

Berlusconi linked with Russian government role

Disgraced former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has reportedly claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to give him Russian citizenship and make him economy minister.

News • 23 Jul 15

John Kerry and Vladimir Putin shake hands ahead of their meeting in Sochi

Kerry urges support for Ukrainian ceasefire

US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged all sides in the Ukrainian conflict to prevent breaches of a ceasefire agreed earlier this year.

News • 12 May 15

Relations between the countries have soured over Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean region

Merkel and Putin hold talks over Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the peace process in eastern Ukraine was progressing despite difficulties.

News • 11 May 15

The carcasses of a destroyed aeroplane is seen on the tarmac at Donetsk's Sergey Prokofiev international airport

Three Ukrainian soldiers die in rebel clashes

Three Ukrainian soldiers have been killed fighting pro-Russian rebels, the government said today, as fighting engulfed a key airport in the east of the country.

World • 16 Oct 14

Some of the 100,000 marchers celebrating Vladimir Putin's 62nd birthday in Chechen capital Grozny

Putin takes birthday break in Siberia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has marked his 62nd birthday in the Siberian wilderness as 100,000 marched in his honour in Chechnya.

News • 07 Oct 14

Vladimir Putin's rating shot up from 65% at the start of 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea in March

Russia urged to 'step back from the brink'

The head of NATO has called on Russia to "step back from the brink" of war by pulling its troops back from the Ukrainian border.

News • 07 Aug 14

Angela Merkel called on Russia to work towards a political solution

Putin and Merkel call for truce in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a ceasefire between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces fighting in eastern Ukraine to allow for negotiations.

News • 18 Jul 14

Vladimir Putin (left) and Dmitry Rogozin have spoken out against the US move

Ukraine accuses Russia of shooting down warplane

Ukraine’s government has said a Russian air force jet shot down a Ukrainian warplane over its territory last night.

News • 17 Jul 14

Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Ukraine

Ukrainian president ready make peace with Russia

Ukraine's president has said he is ready to strike a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin that could put an end to a separatist insurgency gripping the ex-Soviet state.

News • 26 Jun 14

Vladimir Putin yesterday requested the removal of the 'right'

Parliament revokes 'right' to invade Ukraine

The Russian parliament's upper chamber has voted to revoke the right that it had granted President Vladimir Putin in March to order a military intervention in Ukraine.

News • 25 Jun 14

Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin met on the fringes of the D-Day commemorations

Ukraine crisis dominates Merkel-Putin talks

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin have held talks in northern France on the sidelines of ceremonies to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

News • 06 Jun 14

Vladimir Putin said the troops would return to base at the end of spring exercises

Russia says troops to withdraw from Ukraine border

Russian troops ordered by President Vladimir Putin to return to their bases from near the Ukrainian border are preparing their departure, the Russian defence ministry has said.

News • 20 May 14

Vladimir Putin has also called on Kiev to immediately withdraw troops from east Ukraine

US needs 'firm evidence' of Russian troop movement

The United States has said it needs "firm evidence" that Russia was withdrawing its forces from the borders of Ukraine, following President Vladimir Putin's order for his forces to pull back.

News • 19 May 14

Thousands of servicemen take part in the annual Victory Day parade

Putin in Crimea for WWII commemoration

Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Crimea for a military parade in the historic port city of Sevastopol commemorating victory over Nazi forces in World War II.

News • 09 May 14

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are watched by Mr Putin's dog Koni

Putin's lakeside 'notables' targeted in sanctions

Four years before he became Russia's president, Vladimir Putin built himself a lakeside house in woodland outside St Petersburg.

Special Reports • 24 Mar 14

Andrei Fursenko is a Kremlin aide and long-time friend of Vladimir Putin from St Petersburg

US sanctions target Putin's allies

The US has expanded the list of Russian officials subject to sanctions following the crisis in Crimea. Here are some of those affected by the US move, including close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

News • 21 Mar 14

Russian troops reportedly took mobile phones and began trying to remove vehicles from the Bakhchisaray base

Russian troops open fire at naval post - reports

Russian troops have opened fire with automatic rifles during a takeover of a Ukrainian naval post in Crimea.

News • 10 Mar 14