A top security aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as the Kremlin builds ties with Southeast Asian nations seeking to offset the risks of the growing competition between the US and China.

A US-educated former Goldman Sachs banker, with no formal diplomatic role at the time, Dmitriev cut an unexpected figure at the talks next to more conventional members of the Russian delegation such as foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

But, from Mr Putin’s point of view, he had good reason to be part of it. As the boss of one of Russia’s state-backed investment funds, Mr Dmitriev has been cutting deals for more than a decade. Mr Putin wants America to loosen sanctions on his economy.

In the epic US-Russian prisoner swap last summer, Vladimir Putin brought home an assassin, spies, and another prized ally: the man behind one of the biggest insider trading cases of all time.

"The View" co-host Joy Behar suggested that President Donald Trump might owe something to Russian Vladimir Putin during a discussion about his admin's posture on the war.

Ukraine holds trillions of dollars worth of rare earth elements, which are critical for the modern high-tech economy.

A New York Times report Wednesday night laid out the case that President Donald Trump's first month in office bears some resemblance to the early days of Russian President Vladimir Putin — but one journalist who fled Russia flagged a "hell of a difference" between the two,

China and Russia “cannot be moved away” from one another, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told his counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, in their first phone call