Free Republic

Syrian rebels in secret talks with Moscow to end Aleppo fighting. Turkey-facilitated negotiations without US show how Washington could become sidelined

Ukraine began two days of missile tests near Crimea on Thursday - a move that has angered Russia. Volodymyr Kryzhanovsky, a Ukrainian military official, said the exercises, which are taking place in Ukraine's southern Kherson region bordering Crimea, had begun and that everything was going smoothly. The exercises, which will run from Dec. 1-2, were taking place at least 30 kilometres (18.64 miles) from Crimean air space, he said. Moscow has responded by putting its land-based and ship-borne air defence forces in Crimea on higher alert. Warships from Russia's Black Sea Fleet took up position off Crimea's western coastline on...

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's statement that his forces in Syria were there to topple President Bashar al-Assad had come as a surprise to Moscow and that it expected an explanation from Ankara. In a speech on Tuesday, Erdogan said: "We are there to bring justice. We are there to end the rule of the cruel Assad, who has been spreading state terror," Erdogan said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call: "It is a very serious statement and one which differs from previous ones [...] We hope that our Turkish partners...

The Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered the MoD and the Ministry for Emergencies to send mobile hospitals to Syria to provide medical service to the locals. The press learned it from the President’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov. According to his words, the term was set as "in shortest possible time". He also said that the MoD was to send a medical team with a multi-functional hospital for 100 beds with a paediatric therapy ward. The hospital’s capacity for treating outpatients is 420 persons per day. The Ministry for Emergencies’ mobile facility has 50 beds and outpatient capacity of 200 persons.

On the night of November, 29 the Syrian government troops were advancing on militants in neighbourhoods of Eastern Aleppo, as [Russian] Interfax reports referring to the Russian reconciliation centre in Syria. "14 neighbourhoods of Eastern Aleppo, where about 300,000 residential dwellings are situated, were freed from the terrorists yesterday." More than 8500 civilians, about 4000 of whom are children, have left the militants-controlled neighbourhoods. They receive temporary shelter, hot meals and, if needed, medical service. In the recent 24 hours more than 140 militants have given up resistance and left Aleppo. Earlier "The Washington Post"'s sources in the American administration...

Our indefatigable outgoing Secretary of State John F. Kerry is engaged in a furious if implausible diplomatic effort to strike a deal with Russia to end the siege of Aleppo. He is motivated not just by the humanitarian crisis in the Syrian city but also by the prospect that the incoming president will strike a different kind of deal with Moscow, one that abandons the Syrian opposition and places the United States squarely on the side of dictator Bashar al-Assad. The State Department is not advertising Kerry’s quiet mission, following the quick collapse of the last U.S.-Russia cease-fire agreement he...

A 29-year-old U.S. citizen has been deported from Russia after illegally entering the country in search of “a better life,” Russian media reported Monday. The man, identified as Colorado-based insurance salesman Julio Prieto, is reported to have attempted to enter Russia via its southern border with Kazakhstan. However, after being denied entry because he lacked a visa, Prieto attempted to sneak over the border and was detained by border guards on Sept. 14. The local prosecutor’s office said that Prieto told them he had been “looking for a better life,” Ria Novosti reported in October, with hopes of finding employment...

Gerard Araud, who is the serving [French] ambassador [to the US], tweeting his astonishing remarks as forecasters predict the Republican billionaire will defeat Hillary Clinton. The 63-year-old said: "After Brexit and this election, everything is now possible. A world is collapsing before our eyes. Dizziness." (Après Brexit et cette élection, tout est désormais possible. Un monde s'effondre devant nos yeux. Un vertige.)

MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. The Officers of a Russia's non-governmental organization have blocked the entrance to the exhibition of the U.S. photographer Jock Sturges in Moscow in a protest against promoting his works, the organization’s head, and chair of the Public Chamber’s defense commission, Anton Tsvetkov said on Sunday. "If considered in Russia, the works by Jock Sturges could be qualified as a crime." "Right, he could have become famous by good pictures, but remember, this man used to participate in crimes. And he likewise was brought to responsibility also in the United States, though later on was justified. But...

The Russian Healthcare Minister Ms Veronika Skvortsova [Veh-rOh-Nee-Kah Skvor-tsOh-vah] told the press about an incident aboard a plane airborne over St.Petersburg. She had to give first aid to a female passenger who passed out. "In minutes after the take off the stewards announced that a passenger had collapsed, and when we approached, we found a 47-y.o. woman who was unconscious and having the symptoms of focal brain injury, thready pulse and undetectable blood pressure. We decided that the patients' state was a sharp deterioration in the cerebral circulation against the background of systemic changes in the hemodynamics. The Minister and...

A professional-level Russian ballet dancer held at Guantanamo for nearly 14 years asked for a transfer from the prison. The United States says Ravil Kamilevich Mingazov joined forces with extremist groups after 11 years in the Russian military as a logistics warrant officer. After two years with Russia's military ballet troupe, Mingazov spent his years of service doing passport control along the Mongolian border and managing food and cooking operations for a base of 1,500. The U.S. says Mingazov left his military service over the government's treatment of Muslims, sparking his quest to join the al-Qaida affiliated Islamic movement of...

Six NATO countries squared off last week in the Strong Europe Tank Challenge, a two-day competition that pitted some of the alliance’s best tank crews against each another in a series of events centered on armored warfare. The challeng was the first of its kind there since 1991. The challenge featured seven tank platoons in total. Denmark, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Poland all competed with one platoon, while the United States sent two. Each platoon included four tanks manned by four men. Germany took the gold in its Leopard 2A6 tanks, followed by Denmark and Poland in second place and...

Reuters The march of the "immortal regiment," in which Russians from all ages and walks of life carry pictures of ancestors who fought, was meant to allow Russians to highlight their forebears' role in beating back the Nazis during WWII. But it has grown immensely in popularity and prominence since then. Today it is a vast torrent that fills the streets of every Russian city and has since spread to over a dozen other countries, including nine US cities this year, according to Russian media. This year it almost eclipsed the more familiar official military parade, in which thousands of...

An experimental ice cream brand named “Obamka" ["Little Obama” or, may be, "Obammy"] has appeared on sale in the Russian republic of Tatarstan. Deputy development director at the Slavitsa ice cream factory Rasil Mustafin, said that the name was not political but chosen due to the product's chocolate flavor. “There's no political underpinning. We have no intention to offend anyone,” he said. “Someone at the factory came up with the idea.” The product designers were inspired by a Soviet-era cartoon, said the factory's financial director Anatoli Ragimkhanov. The show featured an imaginary island named “Chunga-Changa,” inhabited by African children....

A renowned Russian conductor will perform in the ruins of Palmyra in Syria on Thursday, Russian media say. Valery Gergiev, who supported Vladimir Putin's presidential run in 2012, will perform at Palmyra's Roman Theatre, Rossiya 24 reported. Syrian forces, backed by Russian air strikes, took back Palmyra from the so-called Islamic State (IS) in March. Last July, IS posted footage online showing some of its fighters carrying out killings in the ancient theatre. Rossiya 24 said the concert would be broadcast on Russian television later on Thursday. Mr Gergiev travelled to Syria with the Symphony Orchestra of St Petersburg's Mariinsky...

MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The body of senior lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko killed when carrying out a combat task in Syria has been delivered to Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday. "Following special joint steps taken with the participation of representatives of the Syrian authorities and the Kurdish militia, the officer’s body has been delivered to Moscow," the ministry said. The farewell ceremony with military honors will be held as agreed with his relatives.

Gaza (Agenzia Fides) - The ruins of an ancient Byzantine church, re-emerged during construction work of a shopping center, have been removed by bulldozers and the local authorities did nothing to protect the precious historical and archaeological site. The episode of severe neglect, which took place last week, has provoked strong reactions of condemnation from some Palestinian Christians, launched by Israeli press. The workers, with their bulldozers, according to reconstructions provided by local sources, found the remains of a large Byzantine church of at least 1500 years ago, but continued their work of digging to prepare the foundation of the...

The Interstate Aviation Committee is providing upgrade on the progress of the investigation of the accident involving a Boeing 737-800 registered A6-FDN operated by FlyDubai. The investigative team has completed the two dimensional aircraft mockup and selected assemblies and units to be examined in order to check the longitudinal control system operability. The selected units have been delivered to the Interstate Aviation Committee, wherein their condition is assessed along with examination capabilities. The organizations to conduct pertinent examinations as well as their scope and terms are being determined. During the on-site operations reports of the Weather, Wreckage, Air Traffic Control,...

The price of candy has shot way up for Jacobia Grimes. A career shoplifter, Grimes faces a possible 20 years to life in prison after he allegedly stuffed $31 worth of candy bars into his pockets [...] on a December afternoon. Grimes has five prior theft convictions, making him a “quad” offender under the state’s habitual-offender law, and facing 20 years to life behind bars. In 2010, [Orleans Parish District Attorney] Cannizzaro’s office secured a conviction against Grimes as a double offender, sending him away on a four-year prison stint. The latest charge upped the stakes further. Grimes appeared Thursday...

"The Defense Ministry of Russia will soon propose to the US-led coalition to take part in the mine-clearing operation in Palmyra," the source said. The Russian Defense Ministry hopes that "at least some members, if not the entire coalition, will support the Russian initiative." Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Monday that Russia was bringing combat engineers with robots and mine-sniffing dogs to Syria. He invited other countries to join Russia’s mine-clearing effort.