Russian authorities have made demands that would end the current crisis with Turkey. Interfax reported that Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov outlined three conditions.

First, Turkey must formally apologize for the incident with the Russian Sukharov-24 bomber that was shot down by Turkish fighter jets on November 24th.  Second, the responsible parties must be brought to justice.  Third, Turkey must compensate Russia for the losses incurred in the incident.

Speaking about the death …

As reported by Belarusian news agency Belta.by, the country's Foreign Minister Uladzimer Makey visited Brussels on December 13-14 to discuss cooperation with EU and NATO officials.

Mr. Makey's talks with NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow, EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini are seen as another sign of warming relations between Minsk and the West.

In late October, the EU …

An automatic extension of EU sanctions against Russia has not yet happened, and Italy is insisting that EU governments engage in meaningful political discussion to consider their effectiveness over the Kremlin’s policies.

A discussion of the effectiveness of the sanctions, which are set to expire December 31st,  could help EU member states decide if the current sanctions should be extended, weakened, or removed altogether. As EU Ministers meet in Brussels in the coming days, they are expected …