French MFA: Russia's support for Assad regime is 'torpedoing' peace talks

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, Loran Fabius, has stated that Russian and Iranian support for Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad is detrimental to the Syrian peace process.

“This is completely torpedoing peace talks in Geneva,” Fabius stated.  He said this upon his arrival to an informal meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of the EU.

“It requires a political decision.  Political discussions cannot be conducted when one of the parties destroys another.  Both parties have to return …


Ukrainian Intelligence Learns of Putin Adviser's Plan to Visit Separatist-Held Regions

The Deputy Director of the Ministry of Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, Vadim Skibitskiy, indicated that the Russian Presidential Advisor, Vladislav Surkov, plans to visit the occupied Donbas region, as reported by Ukrainian TV channels.

Skibitskiy also said that official candidates from the Russian Federation for local government positions of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) have not been elected.  However, the representatives of the …


Erdoğan: Allegations of Turkish invasion of Syria are 'ridiculous'

According to the Al Arabiya news channel, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has referred to allegations of a Syrian invasion by Turkey as "ridiculous".  This is in response to claims made by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

“I think that the allegations made by Russia are ridiculous.  Rather, it is Russia who has invaded Syria,” Erdoğan stated.

A representative of the Turkish government had already denied the statements made by Russia and stated that such …


Peskov: Putin has no plans to meet with Erdoğan

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to visit with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to Interfax.

Erdoğan told reporters last week that he wished to meet with the Russian President in order to discuss the increased tensions between the two countries, and in particular the issue of airspace violations.  Erdoğan's comments came after the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the Russian Air Force of violating its airspace over …


The European Parliament calls on Russia to cease human rights violations in Crimea

The European Parliament (EP) condemned the "unprecedented level" of violations of the rights of Crimeans, in particular Crimean Tatars, in the annexed pensinsula. Members of the EP supported the relevant resolution at the plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday.

The EU institution "strongly condemns the unprecedented level of human rights violations”, in particular, “under the pretext of fighting extremism and terrorism carried out against the Crimean people, primarily against the Crimean …