Russia's President Vladimir Putin approved a new government on Tuesday that he described as a break with the past, bringing in some fresh faces but retaining many senior ministers. The new government included a new economy minister and a new first deputy prime minister, but the finance, foreign, defence, energy and agriculture ministers all kept their jobs.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Sunday thanked US counterpart Donald Trump for intelligence that helped to foil attacks on Russian soil, the Kremlin said. Putin thanked Trump "for the transfer, through special services, of information allowing the prevention of terrorist acts in Russia," the president's office said in a statement. They appeared to have been preparing a "terrorist act", the reports said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dropped a cryptic hint seen by some as a sign he may not serve another term while also staunchly defending his Kremlin policies in a marathon news-conference. Clocking in at four-hours and twenty-five minutes, the question-and-answer session was one of the longest ever held by Putin in a format that has become an annual end-of-year tradition for the Russian leader.