Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed in a phone call on Thursday to meet on January 20 in Zurich, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, Sputnik reported.

Prominent US scholar Noam Chomsky has accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of having double standards on terrorism after Erdoğan accused him of ignorance and sympathizing with terrorists.

Verteidigungsministerin Ursula von der Leyen hat im Deutschen Bundestag um Unterstützung für die Fortsetzung und Erweiterung des Bundeswehr-Engagements in der VN-Mission MINUSMA geworben. Der Einsatz helfe dem Land, diene deutschen Interessen, stärke die Vereinten Nationen „„und ist praktisch geübte europäische Solidarität““, so die Ministerin im Parlament.

Egypt is part of a Saudi-led coalition that has been targeting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen since March of last year. Nearly 6,000 people are known to have died in the conflict, about half of them civilians, according to U.N. figures.

(17.12.2015) Italian oil giant Eni, which some media commentators portray as carrying out its own alternative Italian foreign policy, was also disappointed at having to renounce to a chunk of the $29 billion South Stream project. The company’s importance to the Italian economy — and the government — has been greatly enhanced by its discovery this year of the world’s largest natural gas field off the coast of Egypt, which might help explain Renzi’s adamant opposition to Nord Stream 2.

(8.1.2016) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed the situation in Syria and potential energy projects with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, the Kremlin said on Friday, after Rome briefly held up extending EU sanctions on Moscow last month.

The Guardian said the authenticated documents it obtained reveal a “formalised arrangement of passage” from Turkey to Syria and return.
“The manifests were sent to the Guardian by Syrian Kurdish forces spokesman, Redur Xelil, and bear the same stamp marks and logos as other Isis documents the newspaper has been able to verify.”

Die Türkei ist mit Vorwürfen konfrontiert, mit Daesh illegale Ölgeschäfte abzuwickeln. Rohöl aus den von Terroristen besetzten syrischen Vorkommen soll über türkisches Territorium ungehindert in Drittländer fließen: Russische Drohnen haben Tankwagen-Kolonnen an der Grenze gefilmt.

Was haben alle bisherigen State of the Union Adresses (SOTU – Ansprache zur Lage der Nation) des Friedensnobelpreisträgers Barack Obama in den letzten sieben Jahren gemeinsam? Krieg, Krieg und noch mehr Krieg.

Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the United States of America Barack Obama on the American side’s initiative.

The heads of state had a substantive discussion on issues of settling the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East with a focus on finding ways to resolve the Syrian crisis, as well as the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Vladimir Putin stressed, in particular, the need for Kiev’s full and rigorous observance of the Minsk Agreements, including establishing a direct dialogue with Donbass, reaching an agreement with them on the constitutional amendments under preparation, holding local elections and the entry into force of laws on special status and amnesty.

Both Presidents noted the importance of the upcoming contacts between the two nations’ representatives on Ukrainian issues.

The leaders expressed mutual support for the UN’s efforts to organise talks at the end of January in Geneva between the Syrian government and the representative delegation of opposition circles with the aim of reaching political settlement in Syria in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254. Vladimir Putin once again stressed the need to create a broad coalition for fighting ISIS and other extremist organisations, emphasising the need for quickly preparing lists of terrorist structures and refusing double standards in labelling particular groups.

The Presidents discussed certain aspects of bilateral contacts in various formats, including in the military sphere, aimed at consolidating efforts in the fight against the threat of terrorism in the Middle East.

The leaders also called for deescalating tensions following the crisis in the relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

In light of the North Korean leadership’s statement on testing a hydrogen bomb, the heads of state of the United States and Russia noted that, if confirmed, this would be a gross violation of corresponding UN Security Council resolutions and should meet with a harsh international response. At the same time, Vladimir Putin confirmed Russia’s consistent position in favour of diplomatic settlement of the Korean problem. To avoid further escalation of the situation, the President of Russia spoke in favour of all relevant sides exercising maximum restraint and not taking action that could incite military escalation in Northeast Asia.

The leaders also touched on other issues of mutual interest. The conversation was frank and constructive.

President Obama spoke today by phone with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. President Obama emphasized the importance of working towards a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine through full implementation of the Minsk agreements by all parties. The President underscored that the key next step is for the sides to reach agreement on the modalities of local elections in the Donbas region of Ukraine, which must meet Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe standards. The leaders discussed the urgent need to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254 on Syria. Further, they noted the necessity of taking steps to foster productive discussions between representatives of the Syrian opposition and regime under United Nations auspices, principally by reducing violence and addressing the urgent humanitarian needs of the Syrian people, especially those living in besieged and hard to reach communities. Finally, they discussed the importance of a strong and united international response to North Korea’s nuclear test in defiance of Security Council resolutions.