Russian President Vladimir Putin is to hold his first phone call with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan since Ankara downed one of Moscow's warplanes in Syria, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

The Kremlin said Monday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had apologized to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over Ankara's downing of one of Moscow's military jets in Syria last year that shattered ties.

Putin has repeatedly demanded an apology from Erdogan since the November 24 incident and the latest move could help spell the end of a feud that has seen Moscow slap a raft of sanctions on Ankara.

Poland on Friday received its first-ever commercial LNG delivery from the Middle East at its brand new Baltic sea terminal, a key step in easing its dependence on Russian gas.

President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned that Russia would consider measures to "end threats" from U.S. anti-missile systems in Europe but said Moscow would not engage in a new arms race.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said there remained "a lot left to do" for the forces of Syrian leader Bashar Assad despite Russian firepower hitting over 30,000 targets in the war-torn country.

Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri concluded on Friday a trip to Russia where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin before traveling to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Monday.

Mustaqbal sources told the daily that the Russian leader informed the MP of his country's “readiness to support Lebanon on the military and security levels,” especially given the confrontation with terrorists.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday hailed Syria's recapture of the ancient city of Palmyra, while stressing the role of Moscow's military in reversing the Islamic State tide.

President Vladimir Putin visited Crimea on Friday as Russia marked two years since annexing the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in a move that dramatically damaged its ties with the West.

The Kremlin strongman stopped over on the island of Tuzla to oversee progress on a $3-billion (2.66-billion-euro) bridge project connecting Russia to Crimea, a key link that Moscow hopes will further bind it to the isolated region.

U.S. President Barack Obama has urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end air strikes against Syrian opposition forces, the White House said Sunday.

In a phone call with Putin Saturday, Obama stressed the need to quickly get humanitarian aid to besieged areas and initiating the cessation of hostilities across the war-wracked country, it said.

The strongman leader of Russia's Chechnya region Ramzan Kadyrov on Tuesday threatened to eradicate the "enemy" opposition in Russia, raising more concerns about the fate of Kremlin critics and independent media in the country.

Kadyrov, who rules with an iron grip the North Caucasus region that was the scene of two separatist wars, penned a lengthy diatribe in pro-Kremlin daily Izvestiya against the critics of President Vladimir Putin, calling them a "gang of jackals" who "dream of destroying our state."