Russian President Vladimir Putin made the following comments at a plenary session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

President Vladimir Putin said Friday he has secured Israel’s pledge to safeguard Russian personnel at Iran’s Russia-built nuclear power plant and that he has reached out to both sides to try to

China and Russia positioning themselves as voices of reason, calling for de-escalation of a conflict the United States is contemplating on entering — these are the optics Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin sought to project during a phone call on Thursday.