India is preoccupied with analysing the US sanctions, which may cut off India's access to discounted Russian crude and force it to buy at market prices.
Russia has never had a state-sponsored doping programme, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, after the association of National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) called for a temporary blanket ban on Russia from international sport.
Vance also hinted that the US may drop additional tariffs on countries if the US make a deal with Russia, and also apply more tariffs on the countries to bring this war to a close.
Three firefighters were killed in Kyiv, two civilians were killed in Lutsk, and another person was killed in Chernihiv, according to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, as per CNN.
Putin spoke to the citizenry in the annual nationwide Q&A session as part of PR exercise for the Russian government.
"People's republics of Donbass approached Russia with a request for help. In connection therewith, I made the decision to hold a special military operation," Putin said in a special television address.
Russians are facing the likelihood of having to compete under a neutral flag in Paris because of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The IOC has taken no final decision but said athletes should not be punished for the acts of their governments.
On Thursday, Putin also said that he was in touch with India, Brazil and China on the Ukraine conflict.
The Russians destroy the Central House of Culture in Ukraine.
Russian news agency TASS, quoting a Kremlin official, said holding of the RIC (Russia-India-China) summit figured in during a recent video conference between President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that India remains committed to making every possible contribution for an early and peaceful solution to the conflict. Zelenskyy sought India's support in limiting Russian energy exports.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday during which he reiterated India's long-standing position on the Ukraine situation, favouring dialogue and diplomacy.
Yevgeny Prigozhin -- who was once seen as extremely close to Vladimir Putin -- has claimed Putin's removal as Russia's president, saying there will be a new leader in the Kremlin soon.
United States President Joe Biden said that he is 'outraged' by the reported death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
"So I think what happens is it's all bravado, because you think it feels good to fight with the biggest client in the world, but eventually your businesses are going to say you've got to stop this and go make a deal with America."
Rubio mentioned the recent conflict between India and Pakistan that President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed he solved.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a Croatian soccer shirt with the name 'Putin' printed on the back on Sunday, hours before Croatia play France in the World Cup final in Moscow.
China appears determined to upgrade Pakistan's military capabilities, sufficient to ensure local parity with India, alerts former foreign secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran.
The statement by John Kirby, national security council coordinator for strategic communications at the White House, came as Putin hosted the Chinese leader.
Earlier this month, the White House said that US President Joe Biden believed that his meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will be a good step forward in the US-Russia relationship to de-escalate tensions and have stable relations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims President Donald Trump was instrumental in bringing about the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, a claim India has consistently denied.
A meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO summit is being planned.
Putin said the 'policy' pursued by Modi is the main 'guarantor' of relations between the two countries.
Witkoff confirmed that while progress had been made, there were still unresolved details that would be addressed during the upcoming talks.
The mixed narratives emerging from Russia undermine Mr Putin's position and authority even more than the actual facts, observes Mihir S Sharma.
Kazan in Tatarstan, south west Russia, is where the annual BRICS summit will be held this week.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators convened in Istanbul on Friday for their first direct peace talks in over three years, amidst pressure from US President Donald Trump to resolve Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two.
Putin's statement comes after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the alleged head of the Wagner mercenary group, in a series of recordings released on social media on Saturday, announced that his troops had taken control of military facilities in two Russian cities.
It will be Putin's first participation in a multilateral summit after a mercenary group launched a short-lived armed rebellion last week that rocked Moscow.
The statement did not name any country. But the US has often blamed India and China for purchasing Russian oil even when there are no tariffs on Beijing for it.
Asked why the United States was targeting Putin's daughters, a senior Biden administration official said the US thought they could be in control of some of their father's assets.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Japan and China starting around August 29. The visit to China would be his first after the Ladakh border standoff.
Putin also told his French counterpart that Kyiv does not comply with the agreements reached with Moscow on the evacuation of civilians from combat areas, the Kremlin said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan this week and discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific region and bilateral cooperation within the UN and G20, the Kremlin has announced.
"He (Putin) said he didn't meddle. He said he didn't meddle. I asked him again," Trump said.
In a statement on X, Zelenskyy said emergency services were working around the clock to address the aftermath of the attacks, which included over 800 drones and 13 missiles, four of which were ballistic.
In a video address, Putin on Thursday said, "The fact that we are fighting neo-Nazis is proved by how the hostilities are going, nationalist neo-Nazi's units are using foreign mercenaries from the Middle East. Also, they use civilians as human shields, hiding behind their backs and we have facts, pictures of how they deploy heavy weapons in residential areas."
Russia has a "special mechanism" to confront any challenge arising out of the US slapping punitive measures against India for its procurement of Russian crude oil, Russian charge d'affaires Roman Babushkin said on Wednesday.
