Moscow is intensifying efforts to wean its economy off the dollar as Washington considers tough new sanctions that could deny Russia access to foreign debt markets and cut its banks from the greenback.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly slammed the U.S. unit's dominance on the world's stage but the country's previous efforts to de-dollarize its economy have so far had little success.

The Kremlin said Wednesday it was ready to discuss the possibility of a summit in Washington next year between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump.

The Kremlin on Monday said the world would be less safe if Washington goes ahead with plans to withdraw from a Cold War-era nuclear weapons treaty that banned intermediate-range missiles. 

"Such steps, if taken, will make the world more dangerous," said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov as he rejected claims by US President Donald Trump that Russia had violated the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

Uzbekistan and Russia signed business deals worth more than $27 billion on Friday as Russian President Vladimir Putin paid his first state visit to the former Soviet republic since long-ruling leader Islam Karimov died in 2016.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was released from jail Sunday after three weeks behind bars for organizing anti-Kremlin protests, his second spell in detention in as many months.

Russia's Vladimir Putin on Monday spoke to Syria's Bashar al-Assad for the first time since last week's downing of a Russian military plane, telling him of Moscow's plan to deliver a new S-300 air defense system to the Syrian army.

The deal to avoid a Syrian government offensive on Idlib province is still being worked out by Russia and Turkey, the UN said Thursday, stressing that the threat to civilians remained high.

Iran's foreign minister on Tuesday hailed an agreement between Turkey and Russia to avert an assault on Syria's last major rebel stronghold in Idlib province as an example of "responsible diplomacy."

Russia on Tuesday launched what it has called its largest ever military drills, with hundreds of thousands of Russian troops taking part along with Chinese soldiers in a massive show of force that has rattled the West.

The week-long war games dubbed "Vostok-2018" (East-2018), "have kicked off" in far eastern Russia and on the Pacific Ocean, the defense ministry said in a statement.

Russia on Tuesday will launch the biggest military drills in its history involving 300,000 troops as well as Chinese soldiers, in a move NATO denounced as "exercising large-scale conflict".

The week-long deployment alongside Chinese and Mongolian armies dubbed "Vostok-2018" (East-2018) will start in eastern Siberia on September 11.