VLADIMIR PUTIN

The French public on Sunday began bidding a final farewell to late former president Jacques Chirac, fondly remembered as a charismatic giant of domestic and international politics despite a mixed legacy.Chirac's death on Thursday aged 86 prompted a flood of tributes to a man whose high-profile political career spanned three decades capped by 12 years as president from 1995-2007.But it also sparked questions about how much this consumate political operator had actually achieved during a long spell in office and again threw the spotlight on a 2011 conviction for graft over his time as Paris mayor.

US President Donald Trump (C) speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak during their meeting at the White House in May 2017, in a photo made available by the Russian Foreign Ministry

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the United States not to release transcripts of conversations between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin

Jacques Chirac, seen here with Margaret Thatcher in 1987, was caught on microphone making an offensive remark during tense European talks with the British prime minister

Netanyahu has campaigned with a combination of divisive populism and attempts to portray himself as a world statesman by talking up his relationships with foreign leaders including US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) welcomed embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to the Kremlin urging dialogue with the opposition

Norbert Hofer hopes his far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) will head a coalition government after this month's general election

A Venezuelan delegate holds up a book referring to South American independence hero Simon Bolivar while US President Donald Trump addresses the UN General Assembly

Russia, one of the world's key energy producers and largest polluters, says it will adopt the 2015 Paris climate agreement

The meeting between Pompeo and Lavrov will come after the US and Russia scrapped their 1987 INF disarmament treaty that limited the use of nuclear and conventional medium-range weapons

President says complaint filed about his conversation with an unnamed foreign leader was "highly partisan."

Most Russians identify themselves as members of the Orthodox church

The conviction sparked a solidarity campaign with supporters from film stars to priests

Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) at the Capitol before a committee meeting with Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire to discus a whistleblower complaint

Trump had contact with five foreign leaders in the weeks leading up to an Aug. 12 whistleblower complaint, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The shaman's simply expressed statements about Putin captured public attention

Opposition leader Lyubov Sobol was among the protesters outside the presidential administration

Tens of thousands took to the streets of Moscow after authorities refused to allow prominent opposition candidates to stand for the city parliament in September 8 elections

Iran and Russia have been staunch supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey has called for his ouster and backed opposition fighters

Russian president Vladimir Putin personally commended Khabib’s “chokehold” on Dustin Poirier at UFC 242.

Russian investigators on Thursday raided dozens of regional offices of top protest leader Alexei Navalny, as well as the homes of his supporters, after mass opposition rallies this summer.Navalny said the raids were the result of Kremlin "hysteria" after allies of President Vladimir Putin suffered major losses in local elections in Moscow on Sunday.Navalny, who had instructed supporters to vote strategically to push out pro-Kremlin candidates, said on YouTube: "Putin got upset and is stomping his feet."