Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel lamented the "insufficient" progress in resolving the Ukraine crisis after a telephone conversation Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a source close to the French president.

"The chancellor and the president (Hollande) raised the need to put pressure on the various parties" given that progress is "insufficient," the source said, a day before foreign ministers from Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany hold talks in Paris on the crisis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he is ready to "push" his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad towards introducing reforms in the war-torn country, while vowing to continue to support his ally.

"We are ready to work with Assad so that he engages in a process of political change," Putin said at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Vladimir Putin told foreign investors Friday his country would cooperate with the West despite persistent tensions as Russia and Greece agreed to build a gas pipeline amid a debt crisis in Athens.

Speaking at Russia's premier economic forum against a backdrop of tensions over the Ukraine crisis, the Russian president insisted Moscow was "open to the world."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has repeatedly said that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun should give up his candidacy for the presidency to resolve Lebanon's political crisis.

Lebanon's Ambassador to Moscow, Shawqi Bou Nassar, has said in a report that Bogdanov was in favor for Aoun to “pave way for other candidates and allow other Christian personalities to announce their candidacies.”

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has no short term solution and is part of a fabricated conflict with the West to distract everyday Russians from corruption and incompetence, a prominent critic of Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man but now living in exile after spending a decade in jail on allegedly trumped up fraud and embezzlement charges, said no real rapprochement with Russia is possible so long as President Putin and his regime remain in charge.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Saudi Arabia's defense minister this week in a meeting aimed at boosting bilateral ties after years of tensions over Syria, his aide said Wednesday.

Putin will meet Prince Mohammed bin Salman, believed to be a favored son of King Salman, on Thursday on the sidelines of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Kremlin's top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia would have to defend itself if threatened, adding that NATO is "coming to its borders."

"If someone puts some of our territories under threat, that means we will have to direct our armed forces and modern strike power at those territories, from where the threat emanates," Putin said at a meeting outside Moscow with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto. 

President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia will boost its nuclear arsenal by more than 40 intercontinental missiles this year, in a move likely to further unnerve the West.

The declaration from the Kremlin strongman came as Russia reacted with fury to reports that the U.S. is planning to bulk up its military deployments in eastern Europe, with tensions between Russia and the West are at their highest since the end of the Cold War over the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday met Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks expected to touch on energy issues and the Syria crisis.

The two leaders met a day after attending the opening ceremony of the inaugural European Games, hosted by Azerbaijan and tainted by controversy over the ex-Soviet country's rights record.

Vladimir Putin used a trip to Italy on Wednesday to press his case against international sanctions on Russia and insist he was committed to a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Ukraine.

After telling Italian premier Matteo Renzi that sanctions imposed over Russia's actions in Ukraine would cost Italian companies a billion euros, Putin spent 50 minutes chatting to the pope, who presented him an "Angel of peace" medallion.