Vladimir Putin has insisted he favoured dialogue with Russia's protest movement but said this was impossible as they had no leader nor programme.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev marked his 80th birthday on Wednesday by advising Vladimir Putin against running for president.

Cyprus's Finance Minister Michalis Sarris has left Moscow empty-handed after a two-day push to secure the island a financial lifeline failed.

Russia has broken the shackles of state-planned economics but remains tied to oil prices and the whims of a bloated bureaucracy.

Russia has warned that Syria president Bashar al-Assad would not be persuaded to leave, but insists a political solution to the conflict is possible.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev marked his 80th birthday on Wednesday by advising Vladimir Putin against running for president.

Russia has made desperate efforts to give a vital boost to a pioneering Mars probe that now hangs in a low Earth orbit and could crash back down.

Vladimir Putin has insisted he favoured dialogue with Russia's protest movement but said this was impossible as they had no leader nor programme.