Putin calls cooperation with US in message to Obama

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a New Year's message to US President Barack Obama, has called for cooperation between their countries to respond to international challenges, reports Al Jazeera. Ties between Moscow and Washington reached a post-Cold War low when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and threw its support behind separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. The US and other nations responded with economic sanctions against Russian officials, state-owned companies and entire sections of the economy. The Kremlin on Wednesday quoted Putin's New Year's greetings to Obama as saying the "relations between Russia and the United States are crucial to ensuring global security". Putin was also quoted as saying that both countries would "successfully take on new challenges and threats" across the world if they were to engage in a "constructive dialogue". Fighting in Syria is one of the main issues between the former Cold War foes. US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Moscow earlier this month to try to narrow differences with Putin over the role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in any political transition in Syria. Russia is one of Assad's staunchest allies and launched a campaign of air strikes to support his forces against rebels on September 30.

What Putin's presidential potty mouth is all about

 It was a classic "Putin moment." A huge hall filled with almost a thousand journalists, his formal "year-ender" December 17 news conference, broadcast live on all the major Russian TV networks and websites. A question about Turkey, and why it shot down a Russian warplane in November. President Putin was still furious. With a sneer and a snort, he let loose a volley of trash-talk. "If anyone in the Turkish leadership decided to lick the Americans in a certain place -- I don't know if they acted correctly or not -- I don't know whether the Americans need that." Laughs, and even applause from some of the Russian reporters. Foreign journalists looked stunned. What Putin left out was the real ending of that Russian expression: "lick someone's a*s." But every Russian in the room knew what he meant. Trump and Putin's bromance Trump and Putin's bromance 06:58 Vladimir Putin has a presidential potty mouth that he uses to great effect. The public first heard it in September 1999, when Putin was an unknown prime minister. Russia was hit with several deadly terrorist bombings of apartment buildings. Vowing revenge, Putin didn't hold back: "We're going to pursue the terrorists everywhere," he said. "That means, you'll excuse me, we'll catch them in the toilet, we'll wipe them out in the sh*t house, finally."

Russian air strikes 'kill 200 civilians in Syria'

At least 200 civilians were killed in Russian air strikes in Syria from 30 September to 29 November, an Amnesty International report says. Quoting witnesses, the human rights group accuses Russia of using cluster bombs in civilian areas, and says such attacks could constitute war crimes. Moscow insists it is targeting only the positions of "terrorist" groups. Amnesty said in its report it is also researching concerns about the US-led coalition air strikes in Syria. The US has rarely acknowledged civilian deaths in its air bombardment of the so-called Islamic State (IS), which began in September 2014, although some monitoring groups say the toll could run into hundreds. Russia began air strikes in September this year, saying it was acting at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is targeting IS and other groups it has designated to be terrorists, some of which are backed by the Wes

Russian ex-tycoon Khodorkovsky may seek UK asylum

Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, says he is considering applying for political asylum in the UK and feels safe in London. He was speaking in a BBC interview after a Russian court declared him "under arrest in absentia" over the 1990s murder of a Siberian mayor. "Definitely I'm considering asking for asylum in the UK," he said. Mr Putin "sees me - it's obvious now - as a serious threat", he said. Once Russia's richest man, the former head of the now defunct Yukos oil firm spent 10 years in a Siberian prison on fraud charges, which he says were politically motivated. Mr Putin pardoned him in 2013 and he now lives abroad, mainly in Switzerland. "I'm considered by President Putin as a threat, economically, because of the possible seizure of Russian assets abroad, and politically, as someone who will potentially help democratic candidates in the coming 2016 elections," he said. Russia will hold elections to the lower house of parliament - the State Duma - next year. The Duma is currently dominated by Mr Putin's supporters.

Secret plan to delay naming Russian cheats

A senior figure at athletics' world governing body was planning to delay naming Russian drug cheats in the run-up to the 2013 World Championships. The plan is outlined in an email from IAAF deputy general secretary Nick Davies to Papa Massata Diack. Diack, who worked as an IAAF marketing consultant at the time, is the son of former IAAF president Lamine Diack. Davies wrote he needed to "sit down" with the anti-doping team to discuss "Russian skeletons in the cupboard". The Englishman went on to suggest that "we now need to be smart" about releasing names. The email, which has been obtained by the BBC and contains a "very secret" five-point plan, was sent on 19 July, 22 days before the start of the 2013 World Athletics Championships, which were held in the Russian capital Moscow. Another suggestion from Davies was that CSM, the sports marketing firm chaired by current IAAF president Lord Coe, then a vice-president, could be hired as part of an "'unofficial' PR campaign" to deal with negative stories in the British media in the build-up to the championships. But it is the section on stalling the publication of bad news about Russian doping that will cause the most alarm for an organisation already in crisis. Davies stressed in the email that any Russians already caught cheating "should NOT" be in the Russian team in Moscow and that this should be made clear to Valentin Balakhnichev, then president of the Russian athletics federation (ARAF) and IAAF treasurer. "If the guilty ones are not competing, then we might as well wait until the event is over to announce them," continued Davies. "Or, we announce one or two BUT AT SAME TIME as athletes from other countries. "Also, we can prepare a special dossier on IAAF testing which will show that one of reasons why these Russian athletes come up positive is that they get tested a lot!!!"