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President Donald Trump on Monday said he held a "productive" call with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on a range of topics, including the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump shared details of the call in a post on his TRUTH Social platform. "I just had a very good and productive telephone conversation with the President of Turkey, Recep Erdoğan, concerning many subjects, including the War with Russia/Ukraine, all things Syria, Gaza, and more," Trump wrote. The president added that he is looking forward to working with Erdogan to end the "ridiculous, but deadly" Russia-Ukraine war.

Ukraine said it hit a drone command unit in the Kursk region, amid reports of fresh attempts to cross into Russia. Sunday's attack on the unit was located near the Russian village of Tyotkino, according to the Ukrainian general staff. Multiple Russian military bloggers also reported that Ukrainian forces had attempted to cross into the village, posting images - as yet unverified by the BBC - of vehicles breaking through tank traps on the border. The reports come after Moscow claimed in April to have regained control of the entire region, nine months after a Ukrainian forces launched a surprise...

Russia has reported that it repelled a drone attack on Moscow as the capital city prepares to host a major military parade with foreign leaders in attendance. Russia’s air defence systems intercepted “four drones flying towards Moscow”, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Monday. The attack appears intended to unsettle Moscow’s preparations for events marking the end of the Great Patriotic War, commonly known as World War II elsewhere, on May 9. -snip- The Kremlin has branded Putin’s declaration of a three-day unilateral ceasefire a humanitarian gesture. Military operations will be paused during the truce, according to Russian authorities, as world...

"The Victory Day parade will not be held in Sevastopol," said Governor of the city of federal importance Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev, APA’s Russia bureau reports. According to him, the decision was made due to security concerns.

DICTATOR Vladimir Putin has showed off his private chapel and his favourite drink in a bizarre tour of his Kremlin apartment. The Russian tyrant gave the public a glimpse into his home in an interview marking the 25th anniversary of his first inauguration as president. The bizarre footage shows Putin giving his favourite interviewer, Pavel Zarubin, a tour of the apartment while answering his questions. When asked about his grandchildren from daughters Maria, 39, and Katerina, 37, Putin says they occasionally visit him unexpectedly in his austere apartment. He said: “They can, they can. “But still everyone understands that I...

The extension of anti-Russian sanctions by US President Donald Trump, which were introduced by his predecessor Joe Biden, is an automatic action and no other decisions could be expected, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, APA reports, citing TASS. "A different decision could hardly be expected, especially that these are rather automatic actions," Peskov said. Moscow and Washington are only at the start of normalizing bilateral relations and Russia therefore had no exaggerated expectations as regards US actions, the Kremlin Spokesman noted. The case in point is US Executive Order 14024 of April 15, 2021, repeatedly expanded and renewed by Joe...

Ukrainian officials and military analysts have warned that Russian forces are preparing a fresh offensive in the coming weeks, aiming to intensify pressure on Ukraine and strengthen Moscow's position in potential ceasefire negotiations. The anticipated push could lead Russian President Vladimir Putin to delay peace talks in favour of pursuing further territorial gains, Ukrainian officials said. They reiterated long-standing claims that Russia has no genuine interest in meaningful negotiations to end the war. As the spring fighting season approaches, analysts and military commanders report that the Kremlin is planning a multi-front assault across the 1,000-kilometre frontline. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,...

The Russian central bank kept its key rate on hold at 21% on Friday, in line with expectations, and said more rate hikes were still possible in the future as inflationary pressures have decreased but remain high. "The Bank of Russia estimates that the achieved tightness of monetary conditions creates the necessary prerequisites for returning inflation to the target in 2026," the regulator said in a statement. "If disinflation dynamics do not ensure achieving the inflation target, the Bank of Russia will consider raising the key rate," it added. -snip- President Vladimir Putin urged his economic officials this week not...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his Thursday news conference that he has “reservations” about a 30-day ceasefire proposal in the Ukraine war, saying it’s not clear how the situation would develop in the region of Kursk and elsewhere if a ceasefire was implemented. Putin lauded the US idea as “great and correct” and said Russia supports it in theory, but there are many things that still need to be discussed before a deal is agreed to. Putin went on to raise many questions about a potential ceasefire, including how it would be verified. He also said the ceasefire must...

All eyes were on Moscow on Wednesday after American and Ukrainian officials said they would be willing to enforce a 30-day ceasefire in the country's three-year war — and made it clear the ball was in Russia’s court. Russian President Vladimir Putin is yet to respond to the proposal hashed out by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Ukrainian counterparts in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. But some Russian officials and hardline commentators have poured cold water on a plan that, in theory at least, would halt its advances on the battlefield. Russia’s position would not be determined “abroad due...

Vladimir Putin is facing a fierce backlash from some of his most war-hungry supporters after publicly cosying up to Donald Trump. Russian warmongers are furious over Putin’s plan to seek US investment for rare earth metals and aluminium, with accusations he is giving away precious Russian assets. -snip- Staunch Russian war-backer Maksim Kalashnikov is outraged about Putin’s seeming lack of success in the war, as it plots the supply of rare metals to the West. ‘On the third anniversary of the war, they explained to us what victory would look like,” he said. ‘We get what we occupied – a...

When he penned his eyewitness account of the 1917 Russian Revolution, American journalist John Reed famously titled it Ten Days That Shook The World. But 10 days is too long for Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. They've shaken things up in a week. -snip- The Kremlin wants the Russian public and the international community to see that Western efforts to isolate Russia over the war in Ukraine have failed. Russian media are welcoming the prospect of warmer ties with Washington and pouring scorn on European leaders and Kyiv. "Trump knows he will have to make concessions [to Russia] because he...

Russia's point man for relations with the United States said on Monday that all of President Vladimir Putin's conditions must be met in full before the war in Ukraine can end, suggesting Moscow is playing hardball with U.S. President Donald Trump. -snip- Moscow swiftly underscored that its maximalist demands - as set out by Putin in June last year - remained the opening bid at the outset of the negotiations. The "political solution as we envisage it cannot be achieved otherwise than through the full implementation of what was pronounced by President Putin when he spoke to the Russian Foreign...

U.S. President Donald Trump is proving to be somewhat popular within Russia, leaving the Kremlin to grapple with how to counter Russians' love of a leader who isn't President Vladimir Putin, recent media reports suggest. -snip- Alexander Baunov, the editor-in-chief of Carnegie Politika and a senior fellow at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said in an analysis published on January 31 that in Russia, Trump is a new "anti-elitist president" who, "like a beloved Hollywood lone hero, is closer and more understandable to the generation of the Russian elite that lived through the 1990s or grew up watching American movies than...

The United States' 'America First' policy has disturbing similarities to the slogan 'Germany above all' used by the Nazis to assert national superiority over others, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned. In an op-ed for the magazine 'Russia in Global Affairs' published on Tuesday, Lavrov argued that Washington's approach undermines the UN Charter and the post-war global order built on sovereign equality. He noted that this principle was enshrined in the Yalta-Potsdam agreements signed in 1945 by the USSR, US, and UK, shaping the modern international system. With the administration of US President Donald Trump back in power, Washington's...

Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked about his prediction of the future of Europe with Trump as US President. Putin did not hesitate to slam the European elites. He says they will soon get in line despite working against Trump in the election.Video at link.Vladimir Putin: Nothing has changed. They were happy to carry out any order from Washington under Biden.They just don’t like Trump. They forgot him actively, really interfered in political life, in the election process of the United States. And then they were confused when Trump suddenly won.And then they mentally liked Biden more, you know, mentally.But...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing a backlash from within the Kremlin over his pro-China policy, with elites fearing that Moscow is becoming a 'colony' of Beijing. Vladimir Putin is facing intense criticism from rival factions within the Kremlin over his China policy, which could worsen Russia's economic crisis, with earlier reports suggesting China is 'bailing' Russia out by buying distressed assets. Since the start of the Ukraine conflict - where Russia have endured huge personnel losses - in February 2022, Putin has strengthened political and economic ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, boosting their bilateral trade to a record...

...On Thursday, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber approved a campaign to gather signatures petitioning for a vote on whether the state should leave the U.S. In a Sunday op-ed for Flash Report, a blog on California's political news, Nehring said the Kremlin was likely cheering on the latest push to get a secession referendum included on the Golden State's 2028 ballot....

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday described American President Donald Trump as "pragmatic" and "smart," expressing doubt that the US president would lower global oil prices to harm Russia. Putin noted that extremely high or low oil prices would negatively affect both the Russian and American economies. "He is not only a smart person, but a pragmatic person," Putin told state media. "I have a hard time imagining there will be decisions taken that are detrimental to the American economy," he added. Putin also said that the 2022 "crisis in Ukraine"—a reference to Moscow's full-scale military offensive—might have been avoided...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed on Tuesday how to build ties with Donald Trump, prospects for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine and Moscow's firm support for Beijing's position on Taiwan. Xi and Putin, who spoke for an hour and 35 minutes by video call after Trump was sworn in as U.S. president on Monday -snip- Putin, 72, speaking from his Novo-Ogarevo residency outside Moscow and Xi, 71, speaking from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, called each other "dear friends", and Xi told Putin about a call with Trump...