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Turkey has been skillful enough to play both Russia and the United States. Goes back to the Cuban missile crisis, “divide and conquer”

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Turkey has been skillful enough to play both Russia and the United States to extract the best possible deals for Ankara’s own interests. The stress test of the downed Russian jet in late 2015, however, made Erdogan more cautious not to overplay his cards with Putin. Moscow and Ankara have since been more prudent when walking on each other’s terrain. The current state of affairs in Syria makes this experience particularly helpful. Russia shows empathy for Turkey’s fundamental security concern about the YPG and other Kurdish forces. Turkey, in turn, has to side with the Russian agenda on preserving Syrian territorial integrity and on Assad as being ruler of the country.

Trump’s “handing over” of Syria to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is largely seen in Moscow as a reflection of this intent. So are the likely sale of the Patriot air-defense system and the lifting of sanctions against Turkey.

Russia’s Agriculture Ministry announced it is considering doubling the quota for tomato imports from Turkey to 100,000 tons a year.

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Putin congratulates Armenia 2nd President Robert Kocharyan on New Year and Christmas holidays

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YEREVAN. – Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a congratulatory message to Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan.

In his message, Putin congratulated Kocharyan on the New Year and Christmas holidays, informed the office of the second President of Armenia.

Warmly congratulating the retired President, the Russian President also wished Kocharyan good health, strong spirit, and fortitude.

To note, Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan is in custody since December 7.

With its ruling on December 7, the Criminal Court of Appeal of Armenia upheld the first instance court’s July 27 decision on remanding Robert Kocharyan in custody. On the same day—December 7, Kocharyan handed himself over to a Yerevan penitentiary where he was arrested.   

Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan—along with several other former officials—has been charged within the framework of the criminal case into the tragic events that transpired in capital city Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 2008—and under Article 300.1 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code; that is, breaching Armenia’s constitutional order, in conspiracy with others.

On March 1 and 2, 2008 the then authorities of Armenia used force against the opposition members who were rallying in downtown Yerevan, and against the results of the presidential election on February 19, 2008. Eight demonstrators as well as two servicemen of the internal troops were killed in the clashes. But no one had been brought to account for these deaths, to this day.

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Putin to pay official visit to Armenia, Kremlin says

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to Armenia, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Russian Izvestiya newspaper.

Peskov said that the date isn’t yet specified.

“The date of the visit will be agreed upon,” he said.

Earlier on September 8, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with Putin in Moscow. After the meeting, the Armenian PM said that President Putin has accepted his invitation to visit Armenia.

 

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VIDEO shows Putin dancing with Austrian FM, delivering toast in German at her wedding

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Putin dancing with Austrian FM

Vladimir Putin was filmed showing off his language skills and dancing at the Austrian FM’s wedding. The happy couple and their guests also enjoyed a performance of the Kuban Cossack Choir, which the Russian leader brought along.

The video shows Russian President Vladimir Putin arriving with a big bouquet and then dancing to a cheerful piano tune with Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl. The two smile and enjoy themselves as guests take photos and film them on their phones. Kneissl and Putin certainly didn’t forget about etiquette. The foreign minister, dressed for the occasion in a beige dirndl – a traditional alpine dress – ended the dance with a curtsy, while Putin responded with a bow.

Kneissl, 53, tied the knot with businessman Wolfgang Meilinger, 54, on Saturday in a vineyard in the picturesque town of Gamlitz.

When the guests were seated, the Russian president had the opportunity to show off his German skills. Putin delivered a lengthy toast, honoring the newlyweds and wishing happiness, harmony, and love to the couple. He also threw in a few jokes, eliciting laughs and applause from the newlyweds and their guests. He noted that Kneissl enjoys Russian culture, so he brought a bit of it with him.

The Kuban Cossack Choir, dressed in traditional red kaftans and wool hats, performed songs in Russian and German.

But that wasn’t Putin’s only gift – he also gave Kneissl and Meilinger a rural landscape painting, an antique butter churn, and a samovar – a tradition Russian water boiler used to make tea.

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What Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin should agree on in Helsinki

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Trump has said he hopes for an “extraordinary relationship” with Russia ahead of a summit with Putin. Their talks will cover several tricky topics, but there’s one uncontroversial issue where real progress is possible.

In a briefing for reporters last week, Washington’s ambassador to Moscow clearly was trying to manage expectations for the upcoming high-stakes summit between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Helsinki.

Asked whether he expected any concrete commitments or agreements to come out of the summit, Jon Huntsman said: “I think the fact that we’re having a summit at this level, at this time in history, is a deliverable in itself.”

He then cited the recent meeting between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore as a possible blueprint for the upcoming talks between the US and Russian leaders.

While the Trump administration argues that what it calls the “change in atmosphere” after the Trump-Kim meeting has led to the possibility of reduced tension with Pyongyang and that this should be viewed as a success, many outsider observers disagree with that interpretation.

Self-made crisis

They note that Trump himself, with his bellicose rhetoric, ratcheted up the tensions with North Korea only to then arrange a summit to defuse a crisis of his own making. They also argue that the much-hyped summit produced little more than a vague statement devoid of any specifics regarding the Trump administration’s touted goal of North Korea’s complete denuclearization, and that Pyongyang since then has stonewalled clear commitments to that end.

Considering its meager track record, the Trump administration’s signaling that the Singapore summit could serve as a blueprint for Putin and Trump’s Monday Helsinki get-together is underwhelming for such a high-profile meeting, said Christine Wormuth, the former undersecretary of defense policy for President Barack Obama. “I don’t think it’s too much to expect that there would be more concrete outcomes to such a meeting than just the meeting itself.”

But because the Trump-Putin summit faces even higher hurdles — some of Trump’s own making — than his meeting with the North Korean leader, progress or tangible results could prove even more elusive in Helsinki than they were in Singapore.

Acrimonious NATO summit

The most immediate obstacle for the Trump-Putin meeting is the US president just coming from a deeply acrimonious NATO summit, where he repeatedly lashed out against America’s traditional allies only days before he is to meet Russia’s leader, whom he has repeatedly praised. That makes for an awkward setting.

“It would not be helpful at this point to have a very warm meeting where President Trump and President Putin are mutually sharing grievances about NATO countries for example,” said Wormuth. “I think the timing of this summit is less than ideal, particularly coming quickly on the heels of the NATO summit, where the atmospherics were quite bad.”

But aside from the astonishing fact that it seems possible, perhaps even likely, that a US president might have a friendlier meeting with the leader of Russia than with the leaders of the US’ European allies, numerous thorny issues make progress between Moscow and Washington appear difficult, if not impossible. Chief among them is Russian meddling in the US election, its role in Syria, its illegal annexation of Crimea and its intervention in Ukraine.

Trump’s impulses

To be sure, Trump’s impulse on all of these issues is to accommodate Russia or strike what he views as some sort of grand bargain with the Kremlin in order to establish better ties with the country and Putin personally. This has been one of only a few central and consistent patterns of his political framework since the beginning of his presidential campaign.

And one can certainly never exclude Trump — particularly during the Helsinki session during which he and Putin are to meet privately with only interpreters present — making major concessions, such as accepting the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea. And this is precisely what many Trump and Kremlin watchers in the US and Europe fear.

But since Russia is arguably the one area in which the Republican-led Congress has taken seriously its role to act as a check on the administration, Trump’s opportunity to swiftly and unilaterally change key US foreign policy stances appears to be constrained.

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Will Helsinki be Trump the art of the deal ending Syrian war?

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When US President Donald Trump meets his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Helsinki on July 16, a deal on Syria could be closed in good order, to the benefit of both countries, and most importantly, the people of Syria, who are thirsting for an end to the war. In this score, Trump can win by building on Putin’s diplomatic table setting between Israel, Iran and other key regional players.

Fyodor Lukyanov explained that “Trump would be willing to say that there’s no threat to Israel from Syria and that Putin will help drive Iran away from the Israeli border. This is what his electorate should hear. And it can be achieved thanks to long efforts to marry the security interests of Iran and Israel in Syria, with neither Trump nor other US representatives being the main protagonists. On the contrary, the key players include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Putin — who have a high level of trust between them — as well as representatives of the Syrian government and top Iranian officials. Contacts are apparently indirect and delicate, with no formal arrangements possible.”

Al-Monitor has explained how Putin has become the go-to mediator between Israel and Iran, while navigating the often conflicting interests of the other regional powers. “The combination of military force with subtle and proactive multilateral diplomacy paves the way for strengthening the central authorities in Syria. Russia is showing uncharacteristic flexibility and taking into account the security interests of the key players — Turkey, Israel and Iran,” wrote Lukyanov. “It is also prodding the intra-Syrian groups into interacting quite insistently, even if not always successfully. … Russia … aims to engage all the regional stakeholders since, in its opinion, Damascus can oversee the process of rebuilding Syria only on the condition that all the internal and external forces agree — or at least remain neutral.

(Moscow sees the survival of the Syrian regime as the only way to preserve Syrian statehood.) Both consent and neutrality come as a product of arduous and sometimes fruitless work. But the goal can only be achieved through an ‘inclusive approach,’ as Russian diplomats like to call it.”

Not surprisingly, Putin has been fully engaged in the week leading up to the summit, meeting with Netanyahu on one day and Ali Akbar Velayati, the foreign policy adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the next, in Moscow last week.

In his meeting with Putin on July 11, “Netanyahu sought to emphasize that Israel has no contradictions with Russia and that they are working together on Syria,” Marianna Belenkaya reported. “He felt it was important to stress that Russia still gives Israel the needed leeway on Syrian territory. … Shortly after the talks in the Kremlin, Israel followed up with its own strikes on Syria, which Russia didn’t prevent.”

“Moscow allows Israel to behave the way it wants to in Syria under two conditions: If the Israelis strike Syrian positions only in retaliation to Syria’s own offenses, or when Israelis attack non-Syrian forces,” wrote Belenkaya. “In all other instances Russia responds with severe criticism, summoning the Israeli ambassador to the Foreign Ministry, something that also doesn’t really prevent Israelis from doing as they please. At the official level, however, no one would confirm this pattern. On the contrary, in all public statements Russian politicians stress the importance and strength of ties with Iran and its indispensable role in the Syrian settlement.”

“As for the departure of pro-Iranian militias, this fits into the trilateral Russia-US-Jordan agreement on the southwestern de-escalation zone. Russian diplomats have emphasized on multiple occasions that there should be no ‘non-Syrian forces’ in the area. Based on observers’ accounts, pro-Iranian militias do not — at least officially — take part in the Syrian army offensive in the south. To a large degree, this is to the credit of the Russian military, but it also occurred, to some degree, over concerns of new Israeli strikes,” Belenkaya added.

Iran is feeling the heat because of the reimposition of US sanctions, which increases Putin’s leverage, although not to the extent those hoping for a turnaround in the Russian-Iranian relationship might fantasize. The relationship is as rock solid as ever, and that could also work to Trump’s advantage, if he seeks to reduce the US military footprint in Syria and the Middle East, as he has said time and again.

Hamidreza Azizi reported that “the Iranian press has been quick to speculate that Russia is about to ‘betray’ Iran once again and to use Tehran as a bargaining chip to reach a deal with the United States. Moscow’s reaction to speculation along those lines, however, has been quite unexpected. For instance, Russia has backtracked from its previous position that all foreign forces, including Iranians, must leave Syria. Instead, Russian officials have started to vehemently emphasize the lawful nature of Iran’s presence in Syria.”

“It’s important to bear in mind the core objectives that led Iran to get involved in the Syrian crisis in the first place. As a longtime ally of the Syrian government, Iran’s primary goal since day one has been to preserve the rule of Assad and to help him regain full control over all of Syria. Against this backdrop, Tehran has long seen the strong foreign — and especially American — support for the armed rebel groups as a serious obstacle to the realization of this critical aim. Therefore, if any possible deal between Trump and Putin entails a US agreement to withdraw from Syria and accept Assad staying in power, the Islamic Republic would definitely consider it a gift,” added Azizi.

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Protest actions staged throughout Russia

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Opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his supporters are holding protest actions ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration, Dozhd reported.

The protests titled “He’s Not Our Tsar” have been prohibited by the government.

Russian Police have already detained several demonstrations in various cities throughout the country, including Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

 

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The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on, Putin says in response to US sanctions

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Putin The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on

Putin The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the US Treasury’s recently released sanction list borders on “stupidity” as it reveals Washington’s policy inconsistency.

“What do they want? They must decide for themselves,” said Putin on Tuesday shortly after the US Treasury Department released a blacklist of 114 Russian politicians and 96 “oligarchs” close to the Kremlin, over allegedly interfering in the 2016 US election.

Putin noted that Washington equates Moscow with Tehran and Pyongyang, while at the same time calls on Russia to mediate issues with North Korea and Iran.

The Russian president added that the US move was “certainly unfriendly” and would have a negative effect on already deteriorating Russian-US ties.

“The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on,” he added.

Other Russian officials have also slammed the US for publishing the blacklist of senior Russian government officials.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin announced that Washington seeks to impose new sanctions on Russia “in the near future.”

Late on Monday, the Treasury Department named major Russian businessmen, including the heads of the country’s two biggest banks, metals magnates and the boss of the state gas monopoly on a list of oligarchs close to the Kremlin.

The US also expanded its sanctions on Friday against Russia. The new sanctions added 21 people, including Russian Deputy Energy Minister Andrey Cherezov, and nine companies to the sanctions list because of what Washington called Moscow’s continued interference in Ukraine.

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Breaking News: Putin makes surprise visit to Syria Video

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Putin Visit Syria

BEIRUT, LEBANON (12:05 P.M.) – Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Syria, Monday, after a busy weekend that dealt with several regional issues, including the ongoing problems between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Putin reportedly landed at the Hmaymim Military Airport near Jableh city this morning, making a rare appearance in Syria after more than six years of war.

According to local reports, the Russian President ordered his troops to begin withdrawing from Syria, as a large portion of their objective in Syria has been completed.

Many Russian troops will remain in the country as part of a peacekeeping force and to aid the Syrian military in their fight against terrorist groups inside the country.

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Breaking News: Putin Announces Decision to Run in Russia’s 2018 Presidential Election

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Russia’s incumbent president has declared his intention to seek re-election for a second consecutive term in the country’s upcoming 2018 election.

“I will be proposing my candidacy for the position of president of the Russian Federation,” Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday at a meeting with factory workers. “Russia will move only forward, and no one will ever stop it in its progress.”

After announcing his intention to participate in the election, Putin thanked the factory workers for their contribution to the country’s development.

“Thank you for this reaction, first of all, thank you for your work. Thank you for your attitude toward your work, the enterprise, the city, the country. I am sure that we will succeed,” the Russian president emphasized.

The United Russia party has already voiced its support of Vladimir Putin’s candidacy for the election, a senior party member has said.

The election is expected to take place on March 18. While the list of candidates is not yet set in stone, several have already voiced their intention to challenge Putin in the race for the Kremlin. The dinosaurs of the Russian political scene, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the unwavering leader of the Liberal Democratic Party who will be trying to win the race for the sixth time, and Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party, who nearly defeated Boris Yeltsin in the 1996 run-up, are interestingly joined by TV presenter, opposition journalist Ksenia Sobchak who describes herself as “the against-all candidate.” Grigory Yavlinsky from the Democratic Yabloko party has also announced his intention to run. They could be joined by political journalist and singer Ekaterina Gordon, who is set to run as an independent candidate. Businessman Sergei Polonsky, political scientist Andrei Bogdanov, one of the founders of the Nashi movement Boris Yakemenko are among the other candidates.

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