Kremlin

Russia will consider Syria’s request to send troops if Damascus asks for it Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday.

But he added that it was "hard to talk about hypothetically," TASS has reported.

Following a growing number of media reports that Russia had escalated its military presence in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov finally admitted Thursday that the country was sending military cargo to Syria in accordance to past contacts signed between Moscow and Damascus.

The United States has asked Greece to ban Russian supply flights to Syria from its airspace, a Greek official said on Sept.7, amid growing US fears that Moscow is increasing its military backing for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday it is early to speak about a possible participation of the country in military operations against the Islamic State (IS) group.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an this autumn and the two will discuss the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline project, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on July 31.

Russia on July 2 criticised proposed changes to Ukraine's constitution, saying Kiev authorities "absolutely" ignored the demands put forward by Moscow-aligned separatists.

Russia said on July 2 a new U.S. military strategy was confrontational and would not help improve relations with Moscow, strained by the crisis in Ukraine.

The strategy, released by the Pentagon on July 1, said  Russia had repeatedly demonstrated it does not respect the sovereignty of its neighbours and that it was willing to use force to achieve its goals. 

The Kremlin said there was no discussion of financial aid for Athens at a meeting on Friday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Asked whether financial assistance had been discussed at the meeting on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No, no, no." [Reuters]

Work on joint large-scale energy projects is expected to be on the agenda of a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Turkey in Baku on 13 June, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

A new wave of war in eastern Ukraine has been provoked by Ukrainian security forces ahead of the upcoming EU summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

According to Peskov, Kiev has breached the Minsk agreement, while Moscow expects the OSCE, which has an observer mission in the war zone, to soon react.