The Kremlin stressed on Wednesday that the dates for the face-to-face talks, due to take place in Hungary, "weren't set" and that this would still happen.

When they are not fighting, they write poetry, letters home or words of praise to their supreme commander,” said one of the directors at Moscow's Museum of Victory.

Russia is analysing the latest Western sanctions, and will act according to its interests, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Soaring fuel prices and refinery shutdowns leave pumps empty across Russia, with the Kremlin warning gas station owners not to raise prices.

As a Ukrainian, I’ve seen firsthand how Russia has learned to emulate American soft power for authoritarian ends.

Russian state nuclear energy giant Rosatom signed a $25-billion deal last month with Iran to build four nuclear power plants in the country, which suffers from electricity shortages and currently has only one operating nuclear power plant, built by Russia in the southern city of Bushehr.

Russia has grappled with a shrinking and aging population for decades, with President Vladimir Putin viewing it as a threat to national security.

President Donald Trump shocked Moscow and Beijing this week with a sweeping new sanctions package targeting Russia's two largest oil companies, effectively delivering a major blow to Vladimir Putin's war chest as the Kremlin doubles down on Ukraine.