Ukraine's leader has become a puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is unable to take independent decisions on the country's future, jailed opposition icon Yulia Tymoshenko said in an interview Saturday, calling on her bitter foe to step down.

Anti-government protests have rocked Ukraine for more than two months after President Viktor Yanukovych rejected a key EU trade pact that would have seen the country move closer to the European Union in favor of tighter ties with Soviet-era master Russia.

Russia must push Damascus to seriously engage in peace talks in Geneva, a U.S. official said Friday as a second negotiation round appeared to be fizzling out with no sign of progress.

"We think that Russia has a responsibility to press the Syrian regime to approach these talks with seriousness," the senior U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi appeared to further set the stage this week for a presidential bid when he traveled to Russia, where President Vladimir Putin endorsed him as leader-in-waiting.

It was Sisi's first trip abroad since he overthrew Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July, setting off months of deadly unrest.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday rebuked the European Union for trying to extend its "sphere of influence" amid deteriorating relations over the political crisis in Kiev.

"Pressuring Ukraine in one direction, while warning that it faces an 'either-or' choice -- either the EU or Russia -- is essentially trying to create a sphere of influence," Lavrov said at a press conference with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is on a two-day visit to Moscow.

Russia and Egypt are nearing a $3-billion arms purchase agreement that will be financed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a Moscow newspaper reported on Friday.

The two sides have already either "initialed or signed" contracts for Egypt's purchase of Mig-29 fighters, air and coastal defense systems, Mi-35 attack helicopters and smaller arms, the Vedomosti daily quoted two Russian government sources as saying.

The United States scolded Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday for endorsing Egyptian military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the key U.S. ally's presidential polls.

Washington also assured that a warming of relations between Cairo and Moscow wouldn't harm the "historic" ties shared between Egypt and the United States, which have soured in recent months.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele on Thursday called on Ukraine to take "urgent steps" to form a new government and reform the constitution, key opposition demands in the crisis-hit country.

Fuele arrived in Kiev on Tuesday for talks with President Viktor Yanukovych, opposition leaders and members of civil society, in a bid to help defuse the nearly three-month-long standoff between authorities and anti-government protesters.

The U.N.'s mediator on the Syria conflict met high-level Russian and US diplomats in Geneva on Thursday in hope of breathing new life into the flagging peace talks.

Lakhdar Brahimi met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in an attempt to unblock the process.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday endorsed Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's undeclared bid to head the strife-torn North African nation as the two leaders negotiated a massive Moscow weapons deal.

Sisi came to Moscow with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy for talks aimed at securing Russian assistance -- stagnant since the late Soviet era -- that could replace subsiding support from Cairo's more recent ally Washington.

Russia said on Thursday that its own draft U.N. Security Council resolution on bringing aid to desperate Syrian civilians does not include the threat of sanctions on the Damascus regime.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia had prepared two documents for U.N. Security Council discussion comprised of a draft on aid as well as a denunciation of "terror" sweeping the war-torn country.