By Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered his top officials to draft proposals for a possible test of nuclear weapons, something Moscow has not done since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Much of the focus in the fighting has been around the city of Pokrovsk, a key site for both Ukraine and Russia. Meanwhile, UK defence intelligence reports Vladimir Putin wants to conscript 135,000 more Russians to fight.

Russia has accused Western media of deliberately misrepresenting President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear statements, calling coverage overly emotional and misleading. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov criticized NATO,

President Vladimir Putin said at talks on Monday with embattled Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko that Russia had agreed a $1.5 billion loan with Minsk but the Belarusian people should resolve the crisis without foreign interference.

Pianist and composer Justus Frantz has regularly divided opinion in Germany's classical music world over his close relationship with Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Now he's set disapproving tongues wagging again within the industry by accepting Moscow's Order of Friendship award.

In an interview with CBS news, Trump praised both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin for being "smart, tough, serious" leaders.

One in six Russian adults takes a dimmer view of President Vladimir Putin after watching a video investigation by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny that links a luxury palace to the Russian leader,