Vladimir Putin

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been circling one another, intrigued yet at a distance, ever since the former real estate tycoon launched his convention-busting White House bid, according to CNN.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed Syria over the phone and agreed to hold a face-to-face meeting in Germany, according to a Turkish presidential source on June 30. 

The Russian government wants to prolong countermeasures on the European Union for another 18 months, said Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. His statement comes a day after the EU extended its anti-Russia economic sanctions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared headed for a collision course with U.S. President Donald Trump on June 29 after vowing to make a stand next week for climate protection and open markets at what is expected to be the most fractious G-20 summit in years.

Photo: kremlin.ru

President Vladimir Putin has accused foreign intelligence agencies of intensifying their efforts against Russia, including through supporting terrorist groups and trying to interfere with internal politics.

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One of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers, Oliver Stone, "explained the essence of the US policy in the last 30 years" in a short speech, Sputnik is reporting.

The report noted that Stone "defined the functioning of America's 'system of just wars' and received thunderous applause" during his address several months ago at the Writers Guild Awards.

Russians have picked Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin as the greatest figure in history, a new poll said Monday, beating President Vladimir Putin into joint second alongside poet Alexander Pushkin.

In the poll conducted in April by the Levada Centre independent pollster, Russians were asked to pick the ten greatest individuals of all time.

A suspected car bombing in Kyiv on June 27 killed a Ukrainian soldier in an incident classified as a "terrorist act" by police, the interior ministry said.

"The deceased was a serviceman in the armed forces," ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko said at a briefing.  

On June 23, President Vladimir Putin of Russia called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the two leaders had a telephone conversation mainly focusing on the prospects for bilateral cooperation on energy. Although frequent telephone conversations are becoming a new feature of Turkish-Russian presidential relations, this last one was not an ordinary call.

U.S. President Donald Trump is eager to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin with full diplomatic bells and whistles when the two are in Germany for a multinational summit next month. But the idea is exposing deep divisions within the administration on the best way to approach Moscow in the midst of an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. elections.