Under Putin, however, loyalty and continuity are still prized. Last year, for instance, the Kremlin announced the replacement of Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s long-serving minister of defense. But instead of being fired outright for a lack of battlefield success, Shoigu was moved sideways to a post as the secretary of Russia’s Security Council.

Moscow has now claimed to have included parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions into Russia’s Southern Military District, as it moves closer to formalising the forced conscription of Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories.

The Kremlin said on Monday that U.S. Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden's assessment of Russia as the biggest threat to U.S. national security was wrong and encouraged hatred of Russia.

(Reuters) -Russia remains in constant contact with Venezuela over tensions in the Caribbean, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

North Korea's top diplomat has visited the Kremlin for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting follows last month's meeting between Putin and Kim Jong Un in Beijing.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday the case of Kremlin critic Alexei Kremlin had artificially gained resonance outside Russia and in the West which has imposed sanctions on Moscow over his poisoning.

Ukraine appears at increasing risk of losing the city of Pokrovsk, an important stronghold in eastern Ukraine where it has held off Russia for more than 18 months.

It follows the failure of the Kremlin to organise a summit with US President Donald Trump. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.