Vladimir Putin

Putin's interests hardly coincide with those of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- especially in Syria. But as the Trump Administration is yet to work out its Middle East policy, Russia has unprecedented leverage in the region.

Here's a very basic outline of each leader's priorities:

In an interview with Fox News, he said: "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"

Mr Trump said he respected President Putin and would prefer to "get along with him".

He said he wanted help from Russia in the fight against "Islamic terrorism".

Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak on Saturday, according to the White House and Kremlin.

They are expected to discuss bilateral affairs and national security in the first call since the inauguration.

But Mr Trump said it was "very early" to talk about the sanctions imposed on the country by his predecessor.

He was asked about his plans in a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Theresa May on her visit to Washington - the first national leader to be welcomed by the president.

The former CEO of Exxon Mobil told his Senate confirmation hearing the intelligence report on Russian tampering "clearly is troubling".

His comments came after Senator Marco Rubio pressed Mr Tillerson to admit Mr Putin's role in the cyber-breach.

Mr Tillerson's reported good ties with Mr Putin have alarmed some in the US.

The 64-year-old former corporate titan, who has never worked in government, faced tough questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

The unclassified report says the Russian leader "ordered" a campaign aimed at influencing the election.

Moscow has not commented, but Russia has previously denied the claims.

After being briefed on the findings, Mr Trump stopped short of accusing Russia of interfering, saying only that the election outcome was not affected.

The 25-page report says that the Kremlin developed a "clear preference" for Mr Trump.

Implying that the Russian president knew about the hacks, Mr Obama said: "Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin."

The president said he had warned Mr Putin of serious consequences at a summit in September.

A month later, the US accused Russia of meddling in its democratic process.

The president has promised a "proportional" response to the hacking of the Democratic Party and of emails belonging to defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.

Koichi Hagiuda did not give a reason as to why the gift had been rejected.

Japan gave Mr Putin a female Akita called Yume in 2012. This dog was intended as a companion for her.

Mr Hagiuda wrote in a blog post: "Unfortunately, we heard from our counterparts, and our hope to present a bridegroom was dashed."

If accepted, the gift would have been presented to the Russian president at a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan next week.

Akitas originate from northern Japan.

Mr Putin wished Mr Trump "success in implementing the election programme".

Mr Trump, who had praised Mr Putin in the election campaign, said he wanted an "enduring relationship with Russia".

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama said Mr Trump had told him he remained "committed to a strong Nato".

'Pragmatic'

The Kremlin revealed Mr Trump and Mr Putin had discussed Syria and agreed that current Russian-US relations were "extremely unsatisfactory".

President Vladimir Putin also said he and Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed on the need for aid to get to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

The two countries have signed a deal to construct two pipelines to send Russian gas under the Black Sea to Turkey.

Ties were strained after Turkey downed a Russian military jet last year.

But speaking at a joint news conference with Mr Putin, Mr Erdogan said he was confident that the normalisation of relations would take place rapidly.

The two leaders were conversing on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit here, according to a US National Security Council spokesman. More details about their discussion were expected later Monday, but US officials said before the summit that Syria and Ukraine would likely be on the agenda of an Obama-Putin huddle.