President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russian forces would remain in Syria as long as it was in Moscow's interests, despite earlier announcing Russia's mission in the war-torn country was largely completed.

Russian naval vessels will patrol off Syria, where Moscow is supporting President Bashar al-Assad's regime, in order to ward off terrorist threats, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

Vladimir Putin was sworn in as Russia's president for a fourth term on Monday, extending his almost two-decade rule by another six years at a time of high tension with his Western rivals.

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia would cut its military spending, a day after he won a presidential election with a landslide. 

Russian media on Monday said Vladimir Putin's growing standoff with the West had boosted the size of his election victory, while liberal journalists voiced fears over his stranglehold on politics.

One year after the murder of Russia's ambassador to Turkey in Ankara, Russian-Turkish ties are at their strongest point for several years although numerous areas of tension remain.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iran's leadership Wednesday, with the two Damascus allies pushing a peace deal on Syria and looking to boost business despite U.S. opposition to a landmark nuclear deal.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced that Russia would destroy its last chemical weapons, hailing the move as a "historic event" and accusing the United States of not following suit.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri held talks Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russian presidency's summer headquarters in Sochi.

Fresh from his lengthy head-to-head encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday was meeting with a long list of world leaders, including British Prime Minister Theresa May and President Xi Jinping of China, as he wraps up his second trip abroad.

Trump said he had a "tremendous meeting" with Putin as he sat alongside May for a morning exchange on the sidelines of an international summit in Germany. It marked Trump's first comments on his high-profile talks with Putin in which he raised the issue of Russia's meddling in the 2016 elections and discussed plans for a ceasefire agreement in Syria.