Russia will seek a peace deal in Ukraine that safeguards its own long-term security and will not retreat from the gains it has made in the conflict, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday in comments to relatives of soldiers killed there.

Russian sociologist, author and anti-war activist Boris Kagarlitsky has recorded a message from his prison cell. In it he demands that the release of the thousands of political prisoners in the Russian Federation be negotiated as part of any agreement between Putin and Trump over Ukraine.

All About Russia’s New Ambassador to U.S under Donald Trump. Russia has just appointed Alexander Darchiev as its new ambassador to the United States. But who is he? A skilled diplomat looking to ease tensions—or a Kremlin hardliner sent to challenge Washington?