The poll on Sunday suggests a tactical voting strategy pushed by opponents may have worked, in order to punish the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin's (pictured) ruling United Russia party.

Russian media has reported that the mole extracted in 2017 may be Oleg Smolenkov, an aide of senior diplomat and former ambassador to the U.S. Yury Ushakov (pictured).

The CIA pulled a spy with deep access inside the Kremlin out of Russia in 2017 because of leaks, and not because President Donald Trump had compromised the secret agent.

Oleg Smolenkov, the Kremlin aide named in Russia as the CIA's asset at the heart of Putin's regime tracks closely to a source described in the Steele dossier, claims Ilya Shumanov.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a report Israel most likely spied on President Trump using devices that mimic cell towers a 'blatant lie.'

Russian president Vladimir Putin hailed Khabib Nurmagomedov as a 'strong, tough fighter' after the unbeaten MMA fighter retained his UFC lightweight title.

Sekinat Ibragimova was publicly shamed on TV for casting spells on Chechnya locals. Pro-Putin local ruler Ramzan Kadyrov had her detained and had her paraphernalia seized.

Russian president Vladimir Putin's goddaughter Ksenia Sobchak, 37, from Saint Petersburg, has wed her TV producer fiance theatre director Konstantin Bogomolov, 44.

Saudi Arabia saw half of its oil production blown up Saturday when a suspected drone attack damaged its largest oil refinery and an oil field, despite its state-of-the-art air defence systems.

Alexander 'Sasha' Gabyshev, 60, nicknamed the 'new Rasputin,' in reference to the crazed monk who took a malevolent hold over the last tsar of Russia, was halted in Siberia.

Emily Thornberry today accused Donald Trump of 'trying to tear freedom apart' as she demanded the end of the 'strongman era' of world politics.

EXCLUSIVE BY JONATHAN MCEVOY: Vladimir Putin and Formula One's power brokers are in advanced talks about staging a race in St Petersburg.

Rudy Giuliani (left) has pulled out of a scheduled appearance at a Russia-backed trade conference which Vladimir Putin (right) and his top advisor, Sergev Glazyev (center), would also appear at.

The White House is said to have attempted to limit access to President Trump's conversations with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Claude Chirac bowed her head towards the tombstone at the Paris cemetery where France 's former head of state was laid to rest today.

'I think the paramount need here is to protect the national security of the United States,' Democrat Adam Schiff said on NBC's Meet the Press.

Asked about Democrats' push for the publication of Putin-Trump calls, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that 'the publication is possible only on mutual accord.'

The WHO released the report on Tuesday that put a decrease in the country's alcohol consumption down to a raft of measures brought in under sport-loving President Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin is the only one who can green-light the use of the controversial gene-editing technology, and will have the ear of his daughter Maria Vorontsova, an endocrinologist.

The Iranian president smiled and looked at ease as he sat in front of the Russian premier, who appeared characteristically stern (pictured).

Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, is tipped for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize just a week after she furiously chastised world leaders for failing to do enough to tackle the climate crisis.

Greta Thunberg, 16, changed her Twitter biography after Vladimir Putin called her 'a poorly informed teenager' who was being 'used by adults' at an energy forum in Moscow on Wednesday.

The unit is comprised of veterans from Russia's bloodiest wars, including hardened service personnel who fought in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Ukraine.

Siberian shaman Alexander 'Sasha' Gabyshev, 60, nicknamed the 'new Rasputin' has vowed to restart his two-year journey to 'exorcise' Vladimir Putin after he was arrested last month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Saudi Arabia today, where he is set to seal oil agreements as well as use his influence to defuse rising tensions in the Gulf following a tanker attack.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Turkey and its rebel allies had launched a large ground offensive against three villages today and forces thousands of civilians to flee.

Mazlum Abdi, the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), phoned Moscow to 'thank Vladimir Putin (pictured yesterday) and Russia for their keenness in defusing the war'.

Conor McGregor (middle and right) has spoken about the bizarre time the bottle of whiskey he gave to Vladimir Putin (left) was removed by his security staff to check for poison.

A KGB profile belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been released to the public at an exhibition of declassified documents at the central state archive in St. Petersburg.

'It's better to replace it with the Great Russian Encyclopedia in electronic form…here it will be in any case, reliable information in a good modern form.' Putin said in Moscow on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asserted that Russia will continue to expand its weapons development during a meeting with top officials and prosecutors on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump said he is considering heading to Moscow to join the May 9 celebrations of the victory over the Nazis, saying he was 'thinking about it.'

Furious former Labour MPs have lashed out at Jeremy Corbyn after he signalled he would be willing to scrap the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent if he becomes prime minister.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (main) told widows of the scientists who died in a nuclear explosion earlier this year their husbands were working on an unmatched nuclear weapon.

Sergei Skripal had been warned. He had been a double agent, and in 2010, when the Russians released him from jail in a spy-swap, Putin made his intentions clear: 'Traitors will kick the bucket.'

The new site costing £20.7million will be a web version of the Great Russian Encyclopaedia and show 'reliable information in a good, modern way'.

Acclaimed director Rob Reiner (left), 72, tweeted on Saturday that President Trump's (top right) supporters have 'made a pact' with Russian President Vladimir Putin (bottom right).

Vladamir Putin and Xi Jinping discussed the new 'Power of Siberia' pipeline during an elaborate televised ceremony. The 3,000km pipeline will supply China with 38billion cubic feet of gas annually.

The briefcase, which has a personalised key code, a flash card and is under constant supervision, is said to remotely control Russia's nuclear arsenal.

NORMAN BAKER: If Putin wanted to kill him, why not get him back to Russia first? As for his daughter Yulia, she had only arrived in Britain 24 hours earlier and had been living in Moscow for years.

Head of the Russian Northern Fleet, Vice-Admiral Alexander Moiseev, warned NATO countries risk starting a war over the Arctic and their presence in polar waters.

IAN HERBERT: The cries are laughable if anyone could find it within them to raise a smile about this mendacious, risible, pariah sporting nation.

Alexander Gabyshev was arrested two days into his planned 5,000-mile trek to Moscow, three months after his first journey was cut short when he was detained in September and flown back to Siberia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to meet President Trump amid the focus the congressional impeachment inquiry, CNN reported.

A Kremlin press release last month showed Putin at his Moscow residence, sitting by a screen with a bright blue taskbar - suggesting that the computer was still running Windows XP.

The Russian president told a Moscow news conference that Trump was likely to survive a Senate trial after the House of Representatives charged him with abuse of power last night.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly persuaded President Trump that Ukraine meddled in 2016 election during a July 2017 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

Maxine Waters, a vocal Donald Trump critic, said POTUS would invite Vladimir Putin to the White House if he is not removed from office by the Senate and called him 'Putin's puppet.'

Russia 24, a state-owned Russian news channel, has boasted of the capabilities of the nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik, known as Skyfall to NATO, which has 'unmatched' power.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Mr Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered Russian combat duty, the Defence Ministry said.