RIA

Preparations are under way for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to meet in April in Turkey, RIA news agency said on Feb. 19.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday that Russia, Turkey and Iran had discussed a possible meeting of their foreign ministers on Syria, which could be held in Kazakhstan's Astana in March, the TASS news agency reported.

Bogdanov also warned against escalation in the Middle East after Israeli strikes on Syria, the RIA news agency said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Feb. 12, RIA news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Thursday, reported by Reuters. 

Former militants from "bandit units" in Syria are now a real threat after the defeat of Islamic State, as many of them may be now planning to return to Russia, the RIA news agency cited the head of Russia's FSB security service as saying on Tuesday.

Russia's justice ministry will start registering some foreign media as "foreign agents" this week, the RIA news agency cited a source in the Russian upper house of parliament as saying on Dec. 4.

US Homeland Security Adviser Herbert McMaster has held a meeting with the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.

Politicians from North and South Korea will not hold direct talks in Russia on Monday about Pyongyang's nuclear and missile program despite attending the same event, Russian news agencies said on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Russia said on Friday a decision by a Greek court to clear the way for a suspected Russian money launderer to be extradited to the United States was a violation of international law.
Russia has also lodged an extradition request and its Foreign Ministry said on Friday that submission should take priority because the suspect, Alexander Vinnik, is a Russian citizen.

Russia's top oil producer Rosneft said a large-scale cyber attack hit its servers on June 27 and computer systems at some banks and the main airport in neighbouring Ukraine were also disrupted.
   
A Moscow-based cyber security firm, Group-IB, said it appeared to be a coordinated attack simultaneously targeting victims in Russia and Ukraine.
   

Kazakhstan is not conducting negotiations on sending peacekeeping troops to Syria and would only despatch troops there under a United Nations mandate, the Kazakh foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday, cited by Reuters.