Kerry takes aim at Russian Federation over Ukraine and Syria

Sanctions against Russian Federation will continue until it implements all aspects of the Ukraine peace agreement reached in Minsk a year ago, US Secretary of State John Kerry said today. He then plans to hold a referendum in Britain on whether it should stay in the EU. But U.S. officials acknowledge that these extremist groups are, in the words of one official, intermingled throughout the country. The claim was rejected by the Russian side. Medvedev said NATO’s stance towards Russian Federation was hostile.

Plans for the world power-brokered cessation of hostilities in Syria next week appear to be on shaky ground, amid little indication that rebel groups plan to adhere to it, low confidence from the global community, Saudi Arabia preparing to put boots on the ground, and no suggestion that Syrian president Bashar al Assad is willing to step down.

Syrian state TV and an opposition activist group say government forces have captured another village near Aleppo, tightening the noose around rebel-held parts of the northern city. He said that human rights groups and the United Nations “recognize that everyone on the ground is doing something which is wrong from the point of view of humanitarian law”. “The collapse of the terrorists in Syria is a collapse of their policies”.

SERGEI LAVROV: To say unless all humanitarian problems are over, unless violence stops completely, we are not going to negotiate, is a road to nowhere.

Kerry said that changes to Russia’s air campaign were critical to the success of an internationally agreed proposal for a cessation of hostilities within a week between pro-government forces and some Syrian opposition groups.

Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that everyday military cooperation between those two countries in particular is “the key tool” to ensuring delivery of humanitarian supplies and an end to hostilities. But he complained that coordination hasn’t gone beyond an agreement to avoid in-air accidents.

“We are probably facing a hot war”, Grybauskaite said. To which his British counterpart, Philip Hammond, replied that, judging by Lavrov’s remarks, the real percentage was closer to 0.

Rebels said the town of Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppo province was the target of intensive bombing by Russian planes on Friday morning. “Russia is demonstrating open military aggression in Ukraine, open military aggression in Syria”.

KELEMEN: Russia has some conflicting goals in Syria. “There is nothing cold about this, it is very hot”.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev reiterated on Saturday that the country is not bombing civilians in Syria and that its operations have specifically targeted militants instead, according to CNN. “His name is Mr. Putin”.

If its forces retake Aleppo and seal the Turkish border north of the city, Damascus would deal a crushing blow to the insurgents who were on the march until Russian Federation intervened, shoring up Assad’s rule and paving the way to the current reversal of rebel fortunes. He added that “we need an exchange of information, our military have to be in constant contact”.

About the recent dispute between Turkey and the U.S. over Washington’s objection to describing the Syrian group PYD as a terrorist organization, which instead classified it as “a reliable partner”, Kalin said: “The PYD and YPG [military wing of the PYD] serve as a client of the U.S., Russian Federation and Assad regime all at once, receiving weapons, ammunition, intelligence and air cover from them”. “I sometimes wonder – are we in 2016 or 1962?”