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Russia and Ukraine agreed a 10-year gas deal in 2009 after a price war lead to Russian supply cuts to Ukraine and lower volumes for Europe. The European Union has brokered negotiations between the two sides amid strains over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Many key Obama officials take a hard-line towards Putin and generally favor rewarding his toughness in kind.

Furthermore, 53,000 Russian troops would potentially be stationed on the Russian border.

“I would much prefer and advocate a meeting with David Cameron, not because the Prime Minister shares Mr Putin’s views but because he simply does not share those views, and it could start a process whereby the discrimination can be fought and defeated”....

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu has said the recent Russian military buildup in Syria is “defensive in nature” and aimed at supporting Russian obligations to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Satellite images show that Russian Federation is expanding their military presence in Syria, where they have long supported one side of the ongoing civil war.

Independent Russian military analyst Alexander Golts said the operation – which would not jeopardise ground troops – would be “the most rational approach” if Putin was determined to use the Russian military influx in Syria to score diplomatic points.

Russia’s bolstering of its military aid to Syria has concerned U.S. officials.

Russian Federation has delivered new arms including warplanes to Syria as the regime increases attacks on rebels, officials said Tuesday, in a sign that Moscow’s growing support for its ally is having an effect.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assuage Israel’s fears of a potential Iranian and Syrian aggression.

Kerry said any military-to-military meeting would be “to deconflict with respect to any potential risks that might be run” – in other words to prevent the forces from running into one another.

Pentagon officials say the Kremlin may be planning to turn the airfield near Latakia into a major hub that could be used not only to funnel military supplies to Assad but to give Moscow a bigger military foothold in the Middle East, The New York Times reports.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter spoke on Friday with Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu over the phone on areas where “perspectives overlap and areas of divergence”, the Pentagon announced.

Kerry will travel to London later this week for talks to include the situation in Syria with British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond and the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates.

After all, as Secretary of State John Kerry has thrice told his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, it is only making things worse.