Russian officials have been forced to issue a statement after reports emerged suggesting the wife of ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was seeking a divorce.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would enquire about the whereabouts of Austin Tice, the American journalist missing in Syria, while responding to a question from an NBC correspondent at his lengthy end-of-year press conference.

Russia's president says he should've prepared more before launching his country's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Vladimir Putin has promised to ask Bashar Al-Assad about American journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in Syria 12 years ago - it comes after a Syrian prisoner claimed he saw Tice alive in 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the fall of ex-Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was not a "defeat" for Russia, claiming Moscow had achieved its goals in the country.

Vladimir Putin has lost his key anchor of influence in the Middle East with the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, but he seemingly knew it was coming and was chatting with new players in the region ahead of his downfall.

This time, when Bashar al-Assad started to fall, Russia was not there to catch him.

Russian President Vladimir Putin does not see the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad as a defeat for his country's military, which has been stationed there since 2015. "They want to pass off the events in Syria as a defeat for Russia.

In his first comments on Assad’s downfall, Putin said that he hadn’t yet met the former Syrian ruler, whom he has given asylum in Moscow, but plans to.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hasn't yet met with exiled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad — even though he personally made the decision to grant the dictator and his family asylum when Syria's longtime dictator fled the country after his regime crumbled.