
Russia Offers Kurds Aid Against Islamic State, but only Through Assad
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saluted Kurdish efforts against the Islamic State, and offered Moscow’s support, by way of Damascus.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saluted Kurdish efforts against the Islamic State, and offered Moscow’s support, by way of Damascus.

Selahattin Demirtaş, the head of the pro-Kurdish opposition party in Turkey, will visit Moscow this week to speak to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and open a satellite office for his party. The meeting follows a tense several weeks in which Turkey and Russia have all but severed their diplomatic ties.

After 20 months of fierce denials, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that Russian troops have been deployed to eastern Ukraine.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) should not participate in any Syrian peace talks.

Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Moscow to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin. He placed the Syrian civil war and Ukraine crisis at the top of his list of topics to discuss.

During a meeting with his defense minister, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he “hoped” Russia does not need to use nuclear warheads against terrorists.

Another sign of growing tensions between Russia and Turkey was Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s announcement on Friday that visa-free travel between the two countries would end on January 1.

Tuesday was filled with conflicting news about the fate of the Russian pilots shot down by Turkish forces over Syria. At various points during the day, it was said that both had been killed – possibly riddled with bullets by Syrian rebels as they came down in their parachutes – and that both were alive, and in enemy hands.

Contents: Putin calls Turkey’s downing of Russian plane a ‘stab in the back’; Turkmen in Syria versus Russians in occupied Crimea; Russia – Turkey crisis evokes memories of centuries of Crimean wars

On Tuesday morning, two Turkish F-16 fighters engaged a Russian Sukhoi-24 warplane and shot it down with an air-to-air missile, somewhere north of the Syrian port city of Latakia.

The government of Iran has strongly rejected a round of news stories claiming it was ready to compromise its support for the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria.

Contents: Russia warns that Syria war could become a ‘proxy war’; Syria’s civil war and Generational Dynamics; Generational Dynamics and crisis civil wars; Generational Dynamics and war between Palestinians and Israelis

The Russian government wants Syria to hold presidential and parliamentary elections. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has allegedly stated he would rather wait until “terrorism” is eradicated from the country to hold elections again.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in Vienna Friday to discuss Syria before they both meet with Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Rockets flying out of an Islamist neighborhood hit Russia’s embassy in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Russia has declared the attack “obvious terrorism.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman have agreed to military cooperation in Syria.

Russian television station Rossiya 24 tailored their weather report to support Russia’s bombing of Syria, reporting that the weather was ideal for an airstrike campaign in the Mideast nation.

Yesterday, Secretary of State John Kerry described Russian action in Syria as a potential “opportunity” for the United States, suggesting the Russians ought to follow President Obama’s agenda in Syria.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the third time in the past ten days to discuss the situation in Syria. He warned Lavrov that Russia’s support of beleaguered President Bashar al-Assad “will only prolong the Syrian conflict.”

The Russian government sent humanitarian aid to Syria over the weekend, only a few days after officials demanded U.S. cooperation to avoid “unintended consequences.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov mocked the U.S.’s policy on Libya while talking to reporters about Russian troops and equipment in Syria.

Contents: Russia and Iran send more troops to Syria to back faltering al-Assad; Putin’s plan for Syria: al-Assad regime in anti-ISIS coalition with West; Assad regime and ISIS are apparently BOTH now using chemical weapons in Syria

A Syrian official confirmed the Russian government provided the country with more military experts in the past 12 months.

The Russian government is claiming officials never denied or misled anyone about sending weapons and equipment to Syria. The report comes days after terrorist groups in Syria published photos or Russians in Syria and the U.S. warning the Kremlin about military activity in the war-torn country.

The Russian government has failed to convince anyone to work Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), with the latest rejection coming from Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, who told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov his country will not ally themselves with Assad.