A spokesman for Vladimir Putin on Friday denied rumors swirling in the European media that a baby had been born to the Russian leader.

Several news outlets reported that a woman romantically linked to Putin in the past had given birth, a possible explanation for the leader's unusual absence that has sent the Russian rumor mill into overdrive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend ceremonies marking 100 years since the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in April, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

Armenia is hosting the commemoration for those killed by Ottoman forces in World War I in its capital on April 24.

The European Parliament on Thursday called for an independent international investigation into the murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.

Lawmakers voted in favour of a motion saying that Russia under President Vladimir Putin had created an atmosphere which was "fertile ground" for such crimes.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel won't attend a May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow but will visit the Russian capital a day later, her office said Wednesday, amid tensions over the Ukraine conflict.

Merkel has declined an invitation to attend the Red Square commemoration marking 70 years since the capitulation of Nazi Germany to Soviet forces, a government spokesman said.

Russia could pose the "single greatest threat" to Britain, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned in a speech Tuesday, while criticizing "apologists" for Islamic State (IS) group militant "Jihadi John".

Hammond accused Russian President Vladmir Putin of "subverting" international rules which keep the peace between nations and said his actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine "fundamentally undermine" the security of eastern European states.

President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia took over Crimea because it had to protect Crimea's mostly ethnic-Russian population after pro-Western Ukrainian nationalists came to power in Ukraine.

In the latest preview extracts of an upcoming documentary called "Homeward bound" on state-run Rossiya-1 television, Putin portrayed Russia's military takeover and annexation of the Ukrainian province as a rescue mission.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday awarded a medal of honor to the chief suspect in the murder of former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko for "services to the fatherland".

The Kremlin released an honors list including Andrei Lugovoi, a lawmaker in a nationalist party who is wanted by Britain over the poisoning of Litvinenko in 2006.

Top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Friday vowed to keep up his fight against President Vladimir Putin as he was released from his latest jail term, a two-week stint for organizing an illegal gathering.

The charismatic opposition leader also said he would pay a visit to the cemetery where outspoken activist Boris Nemtsov was buried after being gunned down last week near the Kremlin.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said Wednesday he has sent a letter to Russia's Vladimir Putin asking him to free jailed pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who has been on a hunger strike for nearly three months.

"I have sent a letter to President Putin with an appeal for immediate freedom for Nadiya Savchenko, including for medical reasons," Poroshenko said in a press conference after meeting Italian premier Matteo Renzi.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday described the killing of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov as a tragedy that had brought disgrace on Russia, and warned against a rise in "extremist crime".

"We must pay the greatest attention to crimes that prompt a major reaction, including those that are politically charged," he told interior ministry officials at a televised meeting.