Two African states are frustrating Moscow's efforts to establish a stronger military presence in the continent following the fall of Assad.

"President Putin said that he wants to meet with me as soon as possible," Trump said during his remarks at Turning Point's AmericaFest convention.

Putin has suggested missiles could be used to hit Kyiv's allies who have given Ukraine permission to use Western-supplied weapons to hit targets.

Volunteers helping to clean up a major oil spill along Russia's Black Sea coast appealed in a video released on Monday for President Vladimir Putin to urgently send federal aid, saying that they and local authorities were overwhelmed.

There are currently no prerequisites for arranging a meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump. Source: Russian state agency TASS, citing Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson,

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.

Russia's Vladimir Putin, in his annual marathon news conference, laments "serious blunders" by his security forces and says he'll meet Trump "any time" about Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin wants a sit-down with Donald Trump as equals in which they divide the world into spheres of influence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would enquire about the whereabouts of Austin Tice, the American journalist missing in Syria, while responding to a question from an NBC correspondent at his lengthy end-of-year press conference.

Russia's war on Ukraine dominated the opening stages of President Vladimir Putin's annual marathon press conference on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted about the economy and hailed his troops’ gains in Ukraine during his annual news conference and call-in show.