Political parties in Russia

Supporters of Russia's ruling party celebrated winning the majority of the vote late Sunday, amid a sweeping crackdown on its critics.

But partial results on Monday showed the United Russia Party still lost significant ground in the legislature.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged Russians to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections after a lacklustre campaign season.

Polls opened on Friday morning for the three-day election and the first day of the vote was marred by controversy with allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny accusing Google and Apple of removing their "smart voting" app from their platforms.

"Maybe somebody does not like my words, but I think we are a reliable partner to Russia. When I say 'yes' to President Putin, then we do it," said Vucic. "And when I say in Washington and Brussels that we will not and do not want to impose sanctions on Russia - that's the truth, and it's fair," the Serbian president said.

The messages the Russian Federation are sending off after the US has announced its intention to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF-Treaty) is rather the use of the nuclear power argument to bring relations to a point where they might converge, and that is Moscow's only serious claim to support its international actor position, defence policy expert Hari Bucu

Vladimir Putin's ruling party has lost three regional governorships as anger at reforms to Russia's pension system dented its popularity and loosened the Kremlin's iron grip on the ballot box.

According to Tanjug, Vucic will on October 2 in Moscow meet with the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

Chepurin earlier wrote on Twitter that the meeting will be held in early October, and that the two leaders are expected to discuss "key bilateral and regional issues."

AFP - Russia on Tuesday launched what it has called its largest every military drills, with hundreds of thousands of Russian troops taking part along with Chinese soldiers in a massive show of force that has rattled the West.

The three leaders previously attended the Victory Day military parade in the Russian capital, organized every year on May 9 to mark victory over fascism in the Second World War.

The ceremony at the Kremlin Wall included the sounding of the national anthems of the three nations. Putin, Vucic, and Netanyahu also placed flowers at the memorials dedicated to Russia's Hero Cities.

Vucic thanked Putin and Russia for their hospitality during his visit to Moscow last week.

"We are grateful to President Putin and the Russian Federation for the exceptional hospitality given to our delegation during the visit to Moscow," Vucic wrote on Twitter.

A high-ranking official of Russia's ruling United Russia says the party supports declaration on preservation of the Serb "national identity."

Sergei Zheleznyak spoke in Moscow on Thursday, after a meeting with members of the leadership of Serbia's ruling SNS party.