PM Theresa May marks importance of UK-Russia ties speaking by phone with Putin (TASS)

http://tass.ru/en/world/893443

To Russia, with Love: The dangerous Trump and Putin affair (Muddassar Ahmed, Al Arabiya)

When the British Parliament debated banning Mr. Donald Trump from Britain, little was said about national security. After his substantial victory in the New Hampshire Republican primary, though, his candidacy must be taken seriously.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2016/02/16/The-dangerous-Trump-Putin-love-affair.html

Putin is No Ally Against ISIS (George Soros, Project-Syndicate)

The leaders of the United States and the European Union are making a grievous error in thinking that President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a potential ally in the fight against the Islamic State. The evidence contradicts them. Putin’s current aim is to foster the EU’s disintegration, and the best way to do so is to flood the EU with Syrian refugees.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/putin-no-ally-against-isis-by-george-soros-2016-02

Should Vladimir Putin be concerned about the Russian economy? (Sergey Aleksashenko, Brookings)

In March 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely be running in the country’s next presidential election. Putin has been in power for 16 years, and by March of 2018, he will have become the second-longest serving head of state in post-imperial Russian history, after Joseph Stalin and ahead of Leonid Brezhnev. Although the 2018 elections will certainly not be entirely free or fair, for Putin, they will be of great importance as a national referendum on the popularity of his policies.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2016/02/09-vladimir-putin-russian-economy-aleksashenko