Presidency of Vladimir Putin

No options can be taken off the table, including imposing new sanctions on Russia, says German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

She made this statement ahead of tomorrow's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom she will discuss the situation in Syria.

Russia's ruling United Russia party has cruised to an easy victory in parliamentary polls that could pave the way for President Vladimir Putin to glide to a fourth term in 2018 elections, with more than 93 percent of votes counted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia, will have 343 seats in the 450-seat State Duma, preliminary results of Sunday's election have shown.

These result are based on 93 percent of all cast ballots.

Allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin comfortably won a parliamentary election, early results showed on Monday. The ruling United Russia party won 51 percent in Sunday’s election, according to a preliminary central election commission tally after a quarter of the votes had been counted.

U.S. President Barack Obama has accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of attempting to undermine "European unity."

Putin sees this unity as a threat, Obama told CBS in an interview that will air on Tuesday, AFP reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 17 declared his country's Syria mission a resounding success, but stressed Russia would continue to support the Syrian government and could build up its military presence in the region again within hours if necessary. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed some 40 countries, including those among the Group of 20 nations, for financing Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, Russia Today reported Nov. 16.

More than 70 percent of Russians support Moscow's bombing campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria but the danger of getting sucked into a protracted war is not lost on the public, a new poll showed Oct. 8. 

Presidents of the U.S. and Russia, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, have met behind closed doors on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, agencies reported.

This was the first official meeting between Putin and Obama in the last two years and although it was planned to last 55 minutes, the two presidents talked for more than an hour and a half.

It is "premature to talk about Russia taking part in military operations against Islamic State group," Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

"We are looking at various options but so far what you are talking about is not on the agenda," Putin said when asked whether Russia could take part in operations against IS, AFP reported.