Russia

Welcome to Hamburg, where after all the anticipation, all the intrigue, all the build-up, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have finally held their first face-to-face talks, their encounter lasting more than two hours. They emerged with news of a ceasefire deal for Syria.

The Russian president enjoys approval ratings Western leaders can only dream of, even as they dismiss him as an isolationist and authoritarian leader. What is the secret of Putin’s appeal?

In Syria, tensions have once again escalated after American forces brought down a Syrian government jet near the contested city of Raqqa. Moscow, which backs the Assad regime, has retaliated by suspending an agreement with Washington, aimed at avoiding clashes and says it will in future regard US planes as potential targets.

Why IS the weather so bad? Please can you fill in the potholes? What about that problem with Turkish tomatoes? Why haven’t you got married again? Did you really mess with the American election? Yes – today was the annual Putin phone-in, as the Russian President fielded questions from a nation getting everything, or ALMOST…

Kasparov is the chairman of the human rights foundation and former world chess champion. He now lives in America and has spoken about Russian meddling in the US election. In his new book Deep Thinking he discusses our relationship with artificial intelligence and reminisces on the moment twenty years ago when he was beaten at…

President Macron may be fresh to the job but he has wasted no time in availing himself of all the grand stage craft of the French Presidency to impress his guests. Today he hosted Vladimir Putin in Versaille. With deep disagreements over the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine – as well as allegations of Russian…

In the US, the FBI’s ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election has a new person of interest – President Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner. He’s not accused of committing any crimes, but the FBI probe is focused on meetings he held in December in the weeks after the…

Remember how a few days ago the White House was still saying that NO special counsel was needed to investigate links between Russia and the Trump campaign. Well now there is one.

A defiant Donald Trump has insisted he was perfectly within his rights to share “information pertaining to terror” with the Russians. After aides last night scrambled to deny any classified information had been revealed, today the President declared his meeting with Russia’s foreign minister had been “very, very successful”.

Joining us from New York to discuss this more is Jeffrey Ringel, whose career in the FBI spanned more than two decades – and from Washington DC, Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

There was no special friendship award this time: the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has met the Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, at a time when relations between the two countries have sunk to a new low.

Interview with the political commentator and Trump supporter, Scottie Nell Hughes.

Crispin Blunt, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, and Dmitry Babich of Sputnik news debate the response to US strikes on Syria.

In a deliberate echo of presidential phrases, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah today issued a joint statement condemning the US missile strike on Syria as having crossed “a red line”.

“You’ve crossed a red line, we’ll respond to any aggression” – the Russian, Iranian and Syrian alliance reacts to Donald Trump’s cruise missiles.