The Syrian desert city now recaptured from ISIS has a long affinity with St Petersburg, and the Hermitage will be vital to its restoration

"The West should acknowledge that a ground deployment of sorts is, ultimately, the only way to quash IS"

In both Ukraine and Syria, the Russian President has exploited the West’s weakness to divide Nato and halt the advance of democracy

‘Europe must force Iran to rethink its support for Assad, the main cause of Syrian misery and the migration crisis’