Russia, Iran and Turkey, three parties deeply involved in the Syrian conflict, met on Wednesday in Sochi for talks on how to bring peace to Syria. While Russia and Iran support Syria's incumbent Assad, Turkey has sided with the opposition. However, Turkey's support for the rebels changed somehow to a worry of enstrengthened Kurds around the borders of Turkey and Syria. As such, in the peace process brought forward by the three countries, Turkey insisted the Kurds will not have a place a the negotiation table.
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Russia's largest military exercise since the end of the Cold War, Zapad (West) 2017, has started on Thursday amid concerns from the West. The drill, which is conducted with Russia's neighbour Belarus, involves no more than 12.000 soldiers according to the Kremlin. NATO and its allies claim the number of soldiers used could range up to an eightfold of that. The drills will mainly take place in Belarus, with one conducted in Kaliningrad, Russia's enclave on the Baltic Sea.
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The bridge that will connect the Crimea with Russian mainland is nearing completion following the installation of a giant arch between two sections of the bridge. The arch, designed so that ships can pass underneath, is one of the final stages of the 3 billion euro project. Politically, the bridge is important as the Crimea had no direct connection with Russia yet. The bridge thus constitutes an important strengthening of Russia's claim of the peninsula, which is not recognised by either the US or the EU.
Read More Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko visited the White House on Tuesday, where he received a low-key welcome. In contrast to other heads of state, Poroshenko was not greeted by Trump personally. Poroshenko met primarily with Mike Pence, the Vice-President. After a meeting with Trump himself in the Oval Office, Poroshenko met with defence secretary Mattis and secretary of foreign affairs Tillerson. The White House followed up on the meeting by issuing new financial sanctions aimed at Russian individuals.
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European Union member states has adopted an agreement liberalizing the visa regime for citizens of Georgia. The Regulation will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. In March 2016, the European Commission decided that Georgia fulfills all the conditions to abolish visa regime. However, due to fear of an increase of immigration, the decision was delayed.
Read More The European Union decided to extend the sanctions imposed on Belarus until February 28, 2018. Restriction includes an arms embargo and travel ban against four people who are suspected for persecution of opposition politicians. On February 15, 2016, the Council stated that the policy towards Belarus will mainly depend on the action which Belarus will take to respect rule of law and human rights.
Read More Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Hungary to discuss prospective energy projects with its leader Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Speaking after the talks, Orban deplored the West’s “anti- Russian policies,” which he said hurt Hungary’s trade with Russia and cost some $6.7 billion in lost export opportunities. Putin last visited Hungary in February 2015, and Orban travelled to Moscow a year ago. Then and now their discussions focused on long-term supplies of Russian natural gas to Hungary and a deal to expand Hungary’s Soviet-built nuclear power plant with a 10 billion-euro loan from Russia. Both projects, however, are still far from being implemented.
Read More Russia is set to remove its signature from the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) founding document. The ICC was set up in the 2002 Rome Statute establishing its status and powers, and has 139 signatories but only 60 ratifications. The USA and Russia are amongst nations that have not ratified the document, along with Egypt, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan and Turkey. The decision comes two days after a UN committee approved a resolution condemning Moscow’s “temporary occupation of Crimea” and abuses against some people in the region.
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On October 21 and 22 media reported the Russian Consulate-General to the United States in August officially asked to three U.S. states the authorization to monitor voting on November 8 during presidential election in order to “study the "U.S. experience in organization of the voting process.” In these days, the three states, namely Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana publically announced they have refused to host Russian observers saying that their national law only allows election officials and voter being present in polling stations during the election.
Read More Russian and Syrian military forces have been bombarding Aleppo since the collapse of the week-old ceasefire in September 2016. Air strikes on the city destroyed the largest hospital in the city occupied by the rebels and cut off civilians from the humanitarian aid. At the Monday's press conference held in Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry Sergei Rudskoy informed about a suspension of hostilities in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Humanitarian pause is going to be introduced on Thursday and will last for eight hours, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
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