Putin is doing this to scare you. He wants you to be afraid even to mention Alexei and gradually forget his name’

The Kremlin has welcomed a meeting with US president-elect Donald Trump just days after he claimed Vladimir Putin wanted to sit down with him.Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there could be progress on setting up the meeting after Trump is sworn in as US president on 20 January.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday a meeting was being set up between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the Republican offered no timeline for talks between the two leaders.

The president-elect had said Russia’s leader wanted to meet him to discuss the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin said it welcomed such dialogue, but a meeting could occur only after Mr. Trump took office.

A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the possibility of in-person talks during a Friday conference call.

Trump said a meeting between himself and Putin was being set up, however, Putin's spokesman said Moscow had received no requests to set up a meeting.

The only way to compel Putin to make concessions is to increase the cost of his aggression.

Russia's financial watchdog has rejected a request to remove late opposition leader Alexei Navalny from its list of "terrorists and extremists" even though he is dead, his widow Yulia Navalnaya said on Friday.

Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad were allegedly communicating before rebels took over the Syrian government in December.