Russia demands the closure of the Turkish-Syrian border (Lavrov)

March 1, 2016 By administrator

arton122770-480x272 Geneva, March 1, 2016 (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday demanded the closure of the Turkish-Syrian border to cut off the supply of ‘terrorists’ routes, including through humanitarian convoys.

“There is no place for terrorists and extremists, either in the cease-fire, not in a political process” in Syria, Lavrov said before the Council of Human Rights ‘UN Rights in Geneva.

“A very special task is to cut off the supply of terrorists from outside. To achieve this, it is important to close the border between Syria and Turkey, because through it, these gangs receive arms, including through humanitarian convoys, “he said.

The head of Russian diplomacy stressed that a “massive defeat (jihadist organization) Islamic State (…) and the Al-Nosra Front (Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda) is a necessary prerequisite for preserve the rights of the Syrian people who have suffered too much. “

“To improve the humanitarian situation in Syria is one of the key priorities of the UN, he said. However, the resolution of humanitarian problems and restoration of the country destroyed by war will be possible only by maintaining a sustainable cease-fire and the establishment of a intersyrien dialogue on the future of the country, which must be decided by the Syrians themselves, without outside interference. “

On Monday, UN teams delivered aid to a besieged Syrian cities for the first time since the beginning of the ceasefire between rebels and regime generally respected despite some accusations of violation.

The ceasefire agreement was negotiated and concluded with the support of the UN, Moscow and Washington. At a Tuesday meeting in Geneva, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thanked Lavrov for his “important role in the recent progress on Syria,” said a statement.

“They agreed on the importance of urgently and simultaneously advance the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement, the delivery of vital humanitarian assistance to civilians and the return to political negotiations,” added the document.

Jihadist movements, which control more than half of Syria, are not included in the truce agreement. The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, convened all Syrian parties to a new round of talks on March 7 in Geneva.

Tuesday, March 1 2016
Ara © armenews.com

Russian oil giant Gazprom cutting gas supplies to Turkey

February 26, 2016 By administrator

The already strained relations between Moscow and Ankara have taken a turn for the worse. Gazprom has cut gas supplies by nearly a quarter after failing to reach an agreement with Turkish importers on discounts for Russian natural gas.

Delivery is down 23 percent, compared to the same period last year, Interfax reports, quoting data from Bulgarian gas operator Bulgartransgaz that processes about 50 percent of Russian gas going to Turkey.

According to the news agency sources, the reduction is linked to a price dispute between Gazprom and Turkey’s private gas importers.

Last year, Gazprom gave the importers a 10.25 percent discount, but is now doing away with it as energy prices have dropped significantly.

Business daily Kommersant’s sources say Gazprom stopped giving the discount at the beginning of the year. For January deliveries, Turkish companies had to pay at a higher price, but on the payment date of February 21 they only paid the discounted price.

As a result, Gazprom has cut the volume delivered by the size of the underpayment.

Enerco Enerji, Bosphorus Gaz, Avrasya Gaz, Shell, Bati Hatti and Kibar Enerji are the importers affected. Overall, they import 10 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year. Kommersant’s sources in the companies say the cancellation of the discount hurts their business, as they have signed contracts with clients based on the discount gas price.

From the 1st to the 24th of February Gazprom under-delivered 117 million cubic meters worth $30 million, the newspaper’s calculations say. Kommersant added that Turkey could fine the Russian gas monopoly $2.5 million for not fulfilling its obligations.

The source in Gazprom claimed the reduction in supply will not affect supply of the Turkish market, “especially because Botas does not reach its contractual volumes.”

State-owned Botas imports about 17 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year. In 2015, it didn’t get a discount from Gazprom due to the failure of the Turkish Stream negotiations and is now suing Gazprom.

Russia, With Turkey In Mind, Announces Big Weapons Deal With Armenia

February 25, 2016 By administrator

rocket-system-russia-armenia By Joshua Kucera

This article was originally published by EurasiaNet.org.

Russia has announced the details of a new shipment of arms it is sending to Armenia, a relatively rare move likely connected with Russia’s ongoing tension with Turkey.

Last week, the Russian government announced that it would be providing Armenia with a $200 million credit to buy equipment including multiple-launch rocket systems, anti-tank missiles, handheld antiaircraft missiles and upgrades to tanks.

The credit was announced last year, as an apparent concession by Russia amid large-scale street protests in Armenia against the country’s Russian-owned electricity company. But the details of the weapons to be acquired weren’t released, which is the normal practice with Russian arms deliveries to Armenia, said Emil Sanamyan, an analyst who closely follows Caucasus military affairs.

In general, Armenia prefers to cultivate an air of mystery about what weaponry exactly it is acquiring, partly to keep its rival, Azerbaijan, off-guard but also because it likely is acquiring far less and so has little to gain by flaunting it. Azerbaijan, by contrast, tends to exaggerate its purchases in an effort to intimidate.

(That said, Azerbaijan’s purchases are still substantial, and a large portion of them also come from Russia. This week, the Stockholm International Peace Research institute released a report noting that Azerbaijan was the largest importer of arms in Europe over the period 2011-15, and that it accounted for nearly five percent of Russian exports over that period.)

In this context, last week’s announcement of the Russian-Armenian arms deal, with the agreement posted on an official Russian government website, was out of character for Russia (which tends to respect Armenia’s wishes for relative privacy). The change in policy is likely due to Russia’s ongoing tension with Turkey and intended to send a public message that it is continuing to put pressure on Ankara, even when it’s carrying out policies that were worked out before this conflict erupted last fall, Sanamyan said in an email interview with The Bug Pit.

This is of a piece with Russia’s other military cooperation programs with Armenia, which now are being rebranded as explicitly anti-Turkish efforts, from last week’s addition of several fighter jets to the Russian air base in Armenia to ongoing efforts to create a joint Russian-Armenian (and -Belarusian and -Kazakh) air defense system.

Meanwhile, tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to simmer. Earlier this month, U.S. intelligence officials said that the potential for war over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh is rising. “Baku’s sustained military buildup coupled with declining economic conditions in Azerbaijan are raising the potential that the conflict will escalate in 2016,” the head of U.S. intelligence, James Clapper, told a Congressional committee. “Azerbaijan’s aversion to publicly relinquishing its claim to Nagorno-Karabakh proper and Armenia’s reluctance to give up territory it controls will continue to complicate a peaceful resolution.”

Serbia: ‘Special humiliation’ for Serbia to be dragged into NATO after fatal US bombings – Zakharova

February 22, 2016 By administrator

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova © Maksim Blinov / Sputnik

NATO’s promise of security and attempts to drag Serbia into the alliance are humiliating for the Balkan country at a time when two of its diplomats held hostage in Libya were killed in a pin-point US airstrike, Russia’s FM spokeswoman said.

On Friday, US airstrikes against positions of an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) affiliate group in Sabratha, Libya, killed more than 40 people including two Serbian nationals held hostage by the jihadists. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said the death of two embassy workers was “terrible collateral damage” and demanded explanations from Washington.

On Sunday, speaking on the Rossiya 1 TV channel, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Washington keeps accusing Russia of bombing civilian targets, providing no evidence whatsoever, and at the same times behaves as if nothing has happened when their own strikes result in confirmed civilian deaths.

Zakharova noted that just a few days after the disinformation campaign, which accused Russia of striking an MSF-supported medical facility in Idlib province of Syria, a US anti-terrorist air raid conducted in Libya without authorization “killed two Serbian embassy staff.”

The US government should have known that two Serbian hostages were being held by IS affiliates in Libya, Zakharova said, as the Serbian government had shared their information with US intelligence agencies prior to the strikes.

“The most tragic is that this information was given to the FBI and CIA. This is what the Serbian authorities said,” Zakharova noted, adding that the US is now “denying” knowledge of the hostages whereabouts.

Zhakarova questioned how the US can promise Serbia security once they have joined NATO, if Washington can’t avoid doing things such as striking targets that have been red flagged ahead of time. In this case, by Serbia concerning its diplomats.

What security [guarantees]? What are you [US] talking about?” she asked rhetorically, calling the situation a “special form of humiliation.”

“This is an imposition of the Stockholm syndrome [on Serbia], when they force their victims to love them and admit publicly that they want to be with them,” the spokesperson said.

“This is a special kind of perversion,” Zakharova repeated.

Serbia witnessed a mass wave of demonstrations on Saturday, prompted by the government signing a deal guaranteeing diplomatic immunity and free movement to NATO troops.

Thousands of people across the country rejected the deal as unconstitutional and against the will of the Serbian people.

While PM Vucic has defended the decision, saying, “Serbia is maintaining its sovereignty and wants to cooperate both with NATO and with the Russian Federation,” critics from the ultra-conservative nationalist Zavet and Obraz movements promised to launch a legal appeal against the treaty.

IRAN Surprise visit of Russian Defense Minister in Iran

February 21, 2016 By administrator

arton122440-480x280 Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Tehran on Sunday for a surprise visit during which he will meet President Hassan Rouhani and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Dehghan, said Iranian state television.

The visit of Mr. Shoigu comes just five days after Mr. Dehghan in Moscow. According to state television, he must discuss with Iranian officials the “regional situation”.

Nothing has filtered yet on these talks, but Iran and Russia want to “strengthen” their military cooperation, as Mr Shoigu had said Tuesday after meeting his Iranian counterpart in Moscow. Mr. Dehghan also met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

Russia has delivered to Iran of S-300 missile systems, according to Iranian and Russian media, Tehran also wants to buy 30 Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia. Iran and Russia support financially and militarily the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, to the chagrin of Western countries, Turkey and some Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, regional rival Iran.

Russia sends fighter jets to Armenian base

February 21, 2016 By administrator

0,,18751546_303,00 The Russian air force has moved several MiG-29 fighters and other aircraft to its military base in Armenia, officials say. The base is located some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Turkish border.

Four Russian MiG-29 jets, a modernized MiG bomber and a transport helicopter have been dispatched to the air base near the Armenian capital Yerevan, the Russian military said on Saturday.

The advanced, fourth-generation warplanes are to join nine Russian MiG-29 jets already stationed in the compound at Erebuni airport, and be put on active service “in the near future.”

“Pilots of the air base will start making test flights with the newly-arrived planes in mid-March,” the army said in a statement.

Armenia hosts two Russian military installations: an air base at Erebuni airport near Yerevan and a base for ground troops in Gyumri. The Erebuni base in the small ex-Soviet republic is situated around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border with Turkey.

Tensions between Ankara and Moscow

Relations between Turkey and the ex-Soviet state have often been tense, burdened by territorial disputes with Turkish allies and Ankara’s refusal to recognize the alleged Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians.

The Turkish border with Armenia has been closed since 1993.

In recent months, relations between Ankara and Moscow have also taken a steep dive after the Turkish air force shot down a Russian Sukhoi bomber over Syria. The two countries are currently at loggerheads over Russian air support to the Syrian regime.

dj/jm (AFP, Reuters)

Russia blasts Turkey’s ‘provocative’ shelling of PYD

February 15, 2016 By administrator

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks at the 52nd Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday Feb. 13, 2016. AP Photo

MOSCOW – Agence France-Presse

Russia said on Feb. 15 that Turkey’s shelling of Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party(PYD) and Syrian regime positions in the north of the country was a “provocative” action.

“Starting from February 13, Turkish artillery concentrated in border areas is carrying out massive strikes on Syrian towns recently freed from terrorists by regime forces and Kurdish militia,” a statement by the Russian foreign ministry said.

“There have been many civilians killed and injured, infrastructure and residential houses destroyed,” it said.

“Moscow expresses its most serious concern about aggressive actions by Turkish authorities against a neighboring state,” the statement said.

“Russia will support discussion of this issue in the UN Security council for a clear assessment of the provocative line pursued by Ankara, which is creating a threat to peace and security in the Middle East and beyond.”

Turkey on Feb. 15 was shelling for the third day positions of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the PYD, which Ankara has dubbed as a terrorist organization and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Moscow has been carrying out a campaign to support the Syrian army’s offensive since September and also has struck a tighter alliance with the Syrian Kurds who opened an office in Moscow last week.

Ankara has vowed to keep carrying out the strikes despite criticism from Western allies in the US-led coalition, with the spiraling disagreements making the prospects of a ceasefire set to start next month increasingly unlikely.

The town of Kessab in northern Syria, populated mostly by Armenians has received humanitarian assistance from Russia

February 13, 2016 By administrator

Kesab russia The city of Kessab populated mostly by Armenians which is in the region of Latakia (Syria) a few kilometers from the Turkish-Syrian border, just to receive humanitarian aid from Russia and Syria.

Information provided by the Tass news agency. Two Russian type aircraft Il-76 delivered to the Russian Air Force Base “Hmeymin” nearly 50 tons of humanitarian aid for the Syrian city surrounded. Food, medicines, but also clothing for civilians.

According to the governor of Latakia, Ibrahim Salem His Hotr this humanitarian aid was distributed to the encircled city of Der Zor and other Syrian cities which Kessab who was attacked two years ago by the Islamist groups’ Zabhat year Nousra ” and “Ahrar ach Cham” supported by Turkey.

Its population, including many Armenians then finding refuge in the region of Latakia. After the liberation of Kessab few months later by Syrian government forces, most of the population has returned.

Krikor Amirzayan

Syrian Kurdish PYD opens office in Moscow

February 11, 2016 By administrator

Syria. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has opened its first European representation office in Moscow, a development that reveals close ties between the PYD and Russia and has caught the wary eye of Ankara.

Attending an official ceremony on Wednesday, Merab Shamoyev, chairman of the International Union of Kurdish Public Associations, hailed the move as a historic moment for the Kurdish people.

Shamoyev praised Russian support for the PYD and called Russia a great power and an actor that “writes the script” in the region.

Russian intervention in Syria’s complex war has altered the situation on the ground and reversed the tide of war in favor of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Turkey views the PYD, and its armed wing the People’s Protection Units (YPG), as a Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Apart from Russia, the PYD also has close ties with the US.

The cooperation between the PYD and the US in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has increased, much to the dismay of Ankara.

Russian firepower has aided Syrian forces in their advance north in the country, cutting rebel supply lines and prompting another mass exodus of refugees toward the Turkish border.

Turkey and the Western-backed rebel groups accuse the PYD of collaborating with the Assad regime and capitalizing on the regimes offensive by capturing villages from rebel groups north of Aleppo.

The PYD expressed its plans to open offices in Paris, Berlin, Washington and other countries as well.

The group does not feel a need to hide its links to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU.

A photo of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was seen on a wall behind the PYD officials at the opening ceremony in Moscow.

Russia: Aleppo militants lay down arms

February 11, 2016 By administrator

Russia says some opposition groups in the Syrian city of Aleppo are breaking ranks with militants and cooperating with the government.

In Dara’a Province, several groups have agreed to lay down their arms, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters in Moscow on Thursday.

“Syrian opposition groups have been productively sharing intelligence with us. Many are shifting to cooperation with the Syrian government,” he said.

Aided by Russian airstrikes, the Syrian army is closing in on the last pockets of militant positions in Aleppo which borders Turkey.

Konashenkov said terrorists are trying to flee to Turkey, “blending into” civilians as they know Russian jets won’t attack peaceful population, the Tass news agency reported.

“Mass desertion is fixed among gunmen groups operating in the area of Aleppo. Terrorists intimidate local population and use force to drive people to the Turkish border,” he said.

He said terrorists were dropping their weapons and trying to hide among the civilians.

The spokesman also turned the tables on the US over allegations that two hospitals had been targeted in Russian airstrikes in Aleppo.

US warplanes, he said, had flown from Turkey to hit targets inside Aleppo on Wednesday.

“Only, aviation of the anti-ISIS [Daesh] coalition flew over the city yesterday,” Konashenkov said in a statement.

“At 13:55 Moscow time, two US Air Force A-10 attack aircraft entered Syrian airspace from Turkish territory. Reaching Aleppo by the most direct path, they made strikes against objects in the city,” he added.

The statement came after the Pentagon accused Russian and Syrian government forces of destroying two main hospitals in Aleppo in air raids.

Konashenkov said Russian warplanes only hit targets some 20 km (12 miles) from the city on Wednesday.

He said Russian armed forces and their partners “have deployed a multi-layered intelligence system that ensures reliable detection of targets.”

“Only after multiple checks of the obtained data and ruling out any risks for peaceful civilians, airstrikes are delivered at those targets,” he told reporters.

The US has been carrying out airstrikes inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Syrian government or a UN mandate.

Brett McGurk, special envoy of US President Barack Obama, said Wednesday Russian airstrikes around Aleppo “directly promote” the rise of Daesh.

Syria’s government advances and militant losses have unleashed a chorus of warnings by the West and its regional allies about a new wave of refugee influx.

On Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that the humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating in Aleppo, saying the surge in fighting has displaced about 50,000 people.