Nathan Hodge

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he had not spoken to US President-elect Donald Trump in over four years, but was “ready” for potential talks with him, amid expectation that the new administration in Washington will push for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a tart response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual year-end news conference Thursday, hurling a rude epithet at the Kremlin leader in comments online.

The world now knows the colors of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s parachute: the Russian tricolor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is fond of nuclear saber-rattling: On the eve of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin leader presided over the rehearsal of a nuclear strike, and his not-so-veiled nuclear threats have since kept US officials on edge.

Analysis: Vladimir Putin trolls US presidential race with ‘endorsement’ of Kamala Harris

The Kremlin is trying to calm fears that the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France could upend the messaging platform, which is extremely popular in Russia and plays a key role in coordinating the war effort in Ukraine.

Russia’s pro-Kremlin media know how to create an alternative reality, and last week’s historic prisoner swap was no exception.

Russia’s release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva is cause for celebration: The three were freed as part of a sweeping prisoner exchange that also saw the release of prominent Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza and other opponents of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Shifting his fishing buddy sideways in the Kremlin, Putin chooses an economy expert for the war in Ukraine. Here’s why

Analysis: Victory Day celebrations mask simmering tensions inside Putin’s Russia