The Russian strengths and the Central African armed forces settled down in the palace of the emperor declined Jean-Bedel Bokassa. A decision which displeases strongly the family of the deceased. In the middle of December on 2017, Moscow indeed announced that it would deliver weapons and would send instructors to the Central African armed forces at the beginning of 2018.
Russia will reconsider its position on Donbas when it comes to the conclusion that occupation of Ukraine’s territory is no longer in its interests, but so far Moscow continues to deny its direct involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker has said. The Minsk agreements are very important. Firstly, they are a tool confirming Russia’s adherence to the restoration of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. This is very important. The reintegration of these territories into Ukraine – and this is part of the Minsk agreements – should become the basis of a Security Council resolution. Secondly, the Minsk agreements have all elements needed for this – a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons, local elections, amnesty for those who took part in the military conflict, and a special status for eastern Ukraine, which must be secured in the Constitution of Ukraine, Volker said in an interview with Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, which was released on Wednesday, January 24.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin made it clear on Monday the Kiev government would not respond to proposals from Moscow to take back its defense technologies stranded in Crimea after the peninsula’s reunification with Russia. “We don’t have any dialogue with Russia on the issues regarding Crimea’s status”, he told reporters. “We won’t do anything that could weaken our legal or political position”. In addition, Klimkin said the Ukrainian authorities had not received any official invitations from Russia to come to Crimea and Moscow’s proposals looked like a trick.
“I asked if Russia could act as a mediator and the Russian president agreed”, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, during his meeting in Moscow with Russian Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko relating on his meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Vucic added, “if the (Kosovo) Albanians demand that the US become a mediator in the Kosovo talks, then we will demand that Russia join the process”. Serbian President stated to truly appreciate Russia’s support in preserving country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity considering it extremely important. He also stressed to expect Moscow’s support in the future. The same day, Belgrade news agency Beta stated that the Kremlin “did not wish to comment” on Russia’s possible mediator role. The spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, when asked about the possibility of expanding the format of the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, referred that the issue of Kosovo was seriously addressed during the Russian-Serbian talks. While representatives of Pristina expressed favorably on the United States getting involved in the dialogue. In fact, it is worth mentioning that dialogue was launched after the Kosovo issue was transferred from the UN to the EU in 2010, which has been acting as the facilitator ever since.
The CIA reportedly tipped off Russian security forces about an impending terror attack planned for St. Petersburg last weekend, President Vladimir Putin revealed in a thank you call to U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Friday that it detained seven suspected members of an Islamic State (IS) sleeper cell preparing a suicide attack in St. Petersburg the next day. IS is a terrorist organization banned in Russia. “The information received from the CIA was enough to locate and detain the criminals,” the Kremlin said in an English-language statement.
The CIA reportedly provided advanced warning of the plan to set off explosions at the Kazansky Cathedral and other public places in St. Petersburg.
In its readout of the phone call, the White House said “Russian authorities were able to capture the terrorists just prior to an attack that could have killed large numbers of people.”
The Moscow Arbitration Court dismissed Siemens appeal on returning gas turbines delivered to Crimea bypassing the EU sanctions, TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom. The court also denied Technopromexport a counterclaim against Siemens
At the same time, representatives of both sides told reporters that they would determine their position regarding possible future appeals against the court’s decision later.
Earlier Siemens asked the court to return the gas turbines sold to Technopromexport and subsequently delivered to Crimea to Siemens Gas Turbines Technologies. “Proceeding from the invalidity of these transactions, we ask the court to oblige the actual purchaser of the equipment – Technopromexport – to return these gas turbine units to their original seller Siemens Gas Turbines Technologies,” the company’s representative elaborated on the claim.
According to a Technopromexport representative, Siemens does not present civil rights violation claims in the lawsuit, but requires compliance with the EU sanctions by returning already supplied equipment.
Senior Russian MPs have described an allegation by the Pentagon that Moscow and Damascus showed insufficient commitment to defeating IS terrorists as snobbery and lies, designed to cover up US failure to depose the lawful Syrian government. “The statement is nothing new, the same typical snobbery. Even with total resistance from the US special services, those who know how much Russia and the Syrian military forces have done, how many lives were lost, simply cannot say that Russia has done nothing,” Senator Frants Klintsevich, deputy head of the Upper House Committee for Defense and Security, told RBC in response to remarks by Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon. “Nothing is sacred to these people. Now leading news agencies around the world that are being managed by them will tell us that they are the greatest. And we will disprove this”, Klintsevich added. “I think that, in the nearest future, the Americans will face a great disappointment. They have installed so many time bombs for themselves”.
Relations between Moscow and Washington have entered a period reminiscent of the Cold War era, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday, addressing a meeting of the Russian Public Council for International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy dubbed Russia and the US: Problems and Prospects for the Development of Bilateral Relations. “We [Russia and the US] have probably entered a period, which is in many ways reminiscent of the Cold War era”, the senior Russian diplomat said. “The level of negative attitude towards Russia and the deliberate spread of anti-Russian sentiment, particularly in the media, causes concern”, he added. “It is like a tsunami wave that has swept across America, and we need to figure out how it happened that these ideas managed to penetrated US society so deeply,” the Russian deputy foreign minister pointed out. “All the opinion polls show similar results on this matter, but, frankly speaking, not many polls have been conducted”, Ryabkov added.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir expressed his concern on Thursday about measures by the United States requiring the RT broadcaster to register as “foreign agent” and the subsequent tit-for-tat response from Moscow. On Wednesday, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, passed a legislative amendment that would allow foreign media working in Russia and funded from abroad to be classified as foreign agents. The move came as a response to the United States’ pressure on Russian media, including the US Department of Justice’s demand that RT America registers under US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). “Branding media entities as ‘foreign agents’ is a dangerous practice, as it can narrow the space for freedom of the media…. I call on both the United States and the Russian Federation to reconsider and refrain from requiring media entities to register as ‘foreign agents’ and not take further steps”, said OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir.
The Syrian opposition taking part in the last round of peace talks in Astana has rejected the request for a congress for Russia in the city of Sochi in the Black Sea. The Syrian Congress on National Dialogue proposed by Moscow during the talks of two days in the Kazakh capital should discuss reconciliation between all parties in war, political reform and discussing the new Syrian constitution proposal. “It is a Russian deception,” said Fateh Hassoun, who led the Syrian opposition military delegation to the 7th round of Astana to end the six-year Syria war. “We do not trust Russians because they are part of the war and are fighting for the regime on the ground,” he added. The Russian delegation said the conference will be held on the 18th of this month and can be held both on the Russian military base of Hmeimim in Latakia and in Sochi. But Syrian opposition accused Moscow of trying to deflect and control the peace process in Syria moving seats from Geneva and Astana to a trial controlled by Hmeimim-Sochi. Syrian opposition leader Mohamad Alloush said the proposed conference would be similar to a dialogue between the regime and himself.
