The Kremlin said Friday that volunteers including from Syria would be welcomed to fight alongside Russia's military in Ukraine, embroiling the Middle East in a conflict the West has worked to contain.

Dozens of men in camouflage, hoisting Kalashnikov assault rifles and pro-Russian banners, appeared in footage Russia's Defense Ministry said was a

Russian lawmakers have expanded the country's controversial online voting system to be used in all national elections ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s anticipated re-election in 2024 and banned figures like jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny from the presidency.

Seven Russian regions voted online in last year's parliamentary elections, with

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that there were some "positive shifts" in talks between Russian and Ukraine, two weeks into Moscow's military campaign in the country.

"There are certain positive shifts, negotiators from our side reported to me," Putin told his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko during a televised meeting in

Vladimir Potanin, one of Russia's richest oligarchs and a Kremlin confidant, has criticized plans to confiscate assets of foreign enterprises leaving the country, likening them to the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

Potanin, who heads the Nornickel mining company, drew the parallel as President Vladimir Putin's government scrambles to respond to massive