Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday acknowledged the accuracy of the Panama Papers revelations, but claimed funds had been spent on musical instruments as he blamed the leak on the United States.

The Papers revealed that Putin's associates, notably cellist Sergei Roldugin, "secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies," according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Russia denied Thursday its fighter jets were engaged in reckless or provocative behavior when they flew just meters from a U.S. destroyer in international waters in the Baltic Sea, exacerbating tensions between the rival powers.

The aircraft repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook this week, including an incident on Tuesday when a Russian Su-24 jet flew 30 feet (nine meters) above the ship in a "simulated attack profile," the U.S. military's European Command said.

Two Russian military pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed near the central Syrian city of Homs, the defense ministry said on Tuesday, adding that the aircraft had not been under fire.

"Two crew members died," the defense ministry said in a statement.

Russian aviation investigators said Friday that the pilots of a flydubai jet that crashed and killed 62 last month put the plane into a nose-dive and were unable to pull out of it.

The Boeing 737 flying from Dubai crashed short of the runway in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in the early hours of March 19 after it aborted a landing in poor weather.

The Kremlin on Monday slammed the leak of the "Panama Papers" tax documents as an attack aimed primarily at Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming that former CIA officials helped analyze the papers.

"Putin, Russia, our country, our stability and the upcoming elections are the main target, specifically to destabilize the situation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri concluded on Friday a trip to Russia where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin before traveling to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Monday.

Mustaqbal sources told the daily that the Russian leader informed the MP of his country's “readiness to support Lebanon on the military and security levels,” especially given the confrontation with terrorists.

Russian state television has aired the final words of the pilots of the flydubai passenger jet that crashed in Rostov-on-Don last week killing 62 people, suggesting pilot error could be to blame.

Russia's Rossiya-1 channel late Friday said it had obtained a transcript of the last words exchanged a minute before the Boeing 737 plunged to the ground from a source in the investigative commission with access to the plane's voice recorders.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday confirmed that Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov will continue as interim leader and backed him in elections despite mounting criticism of his rule.

In a televised meeting at the Kremlin, Putin told Kadyrov that "today I signed a decree naming you acting Chechen leader, followed I hope by your standing in September elections."

Russia's deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov on Friday said the genocide conviction of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was "politicized" and accused U.N. war crimes judges of bias.

In the first comment by a senior Russian official on the verdict, Gatilov also accused the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of overlooking crimes committed by Kosovars.

Finland and Russia have signed an agreement to close their northern border crossings to migrants, blocking off the Arctic route into the European Union, Helsinki said on Wednesday.

"Only citizens of Finland, Russia and Belarus... can use the border crossings of Salla and Raja-Jooseppi located in northern Finland," the Finnish government said in a statement.