VLADIMIR PUTIN

President Moncef Marzouki made the same proposal last week, but it is unclear if Assad responded to him or not.

Six world powers that are poised to restart stalled talks with Iran sought on Wednesday to agree a unified stance on the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, diplomats at the United Nations' nuclear agency said.

Russia's ruble-denominated Micex index dropped 3.9 percent, while the dollar-denominated RTS fell more than 4.3 percent a day after Monday's Putin bounce lifted both to record highs.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko quipped that it is better to be a dictator than gay – an apparent swipe at Germany’s openly homosexual foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle.

Russian police released hundreds of protestors and activists who were detained during anti-Putin rallies in Moscow on Monday, including opposition leaders Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov.

The widespread assumption among investors that Vladimir Putin's decisive victory in Sunday's presidential election will deliver stability to Russia's economy and its financial markets seems misplaced, according to a report.

Hundreds of protesters including opposition leader Alexei Navalny detained by Russian riot police as Vladimir Putin takes up presidency again.

Some of the audience members for Vladimir Putin’s tearful victory speech stood in line after the event to collect 300 rubles each.

Prominent Russian opposition figures were arrested amid protests Monday night in Moscow against the election of Vladimir Putin as president. Many observers claim the vote was tainted by fraud.

Vladimir Putin declared victory in Sunday's election, but it remains to be seen how much power he'll wield over his country's vast stockpiles of oil and natural gas when he returns to the presidency in May.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Moscow and other Russian cities to denounce what they considered an unfair electoral victory Sunday by Vladimir Putin, who will return to his country's presidency in May.

The man who will soon cede the Russian presidency to his mentor has been promised the prime minister's job once the next Putin government is formed. But will the proposed swap happen once the new president is inaugurated in May?

Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, claimed a resounding victory with 64 percent of the vote in Russia's presidential election Sunday. He'll return to a third term as president, but opponents, citing alleged evidence of fraud, denounced the vote as illegitimate and vowed to continue their protests.

The former Yukos chief's lawyer says news that outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has told prosecutors to review the conviction may be simply a formal decision, not meaning anything, or it may be a signal from above that they have decided to close the Khodorkovsky and [Platon] Lebedev cases.

Vladimir Putin triumphed in Russia's presidential election on Sunday and, tears rolling down his cheeks, called his victory a turning point that had prevented the country falling into the hands of enemies.

Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, claimed a resounding victory with 64 percent of the vote in Russia's presidential election Sunday. He'll return to a third term as president, but opponents, citing alleged evidence of fraud, denounced the vote as illegitimate and vowed to continue their protests.

Vladimir Putin, the current prime minister and former president, is all set to win a third presidential term in the presidential elections Sunday. In the absence of strong opponents, the election is widely considered as a one-sided battle in favor of Putin.

Many Russians reportedly feel that there is no alternative to Putin in a vote that opponents say is skewed in his favour.

When the Soviet era political permafrost melted gradually over the ten years after the 1991 collapse of the red star, the relic -- the holy relic -- that emerged was Vladimir Putin, the successor chosen by Boris Yeltsin at the end of a senselessly chaotic decade.

The foreign ministry in Moscow even asserted it will not move to protect Assad and his regime in the event that the west and other Arab powers intervene militarily in Syria.

The former KGB-man spoke of how he was favored by a majority of Russians, with recent polls putting his popularity at around 60 percent.