Author: Lilit Nahapetian

Sputnik/ Valeriy Melnikov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has addressed journalists following the downing of the Russian Su-24 jet by an air-to-air missile launched from a Turkish F-16, Sputnik News reports.

The Russian minister held a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart earlier in the day.

“Moscow is not avoiding contacts with Ankara — my phone conversation with the Turkish FM is a proof,” Lavrov said.

Turkey’s foreign minister expressed his sincere condolences to Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister said. But the Turkish minister tried to excuse the incident, Lavrov added.

The Turkish minister said that Turkey did not know it was a Russian jet.

“We have serious doubts it was an accident and prepared footage of the jet downing suggests it wasn’t,” Sergei Lavrov said. “It all looks like a planned provocation”.

“Let me remind you, Russian warplanes were in Syrian airspace. But even if a Russian jet crosses into Turkish airspace serious questions arise as to why Turkey did not use the emergency communication line with Russia before or after downing the Su-24 bomber jet,” the Russian Foreign Minister added.

“I reminded him [Turkish foreign minister] that on Russia’s initiative a hotline between the Russian National Defense Control Center and the Turkish Defense Ministry was established. The line was established at the beginning of the Russian Aerospace Forces operation in Syria, and was used neither yesterday nor before that, which provokes serious questions,” Lavrov told the press.

Ankara has stated it was unaware that the aircraft belonged to Russia.

Russia is still expecting apology from Turkey over the downing of the Russian Su-24 bomber jet over Syria.

“We’re not going to wage a war against Turkey,” Sergei Lavrov said answering a question from a journalist.

According to the Russian foreign minister, “the attitude toward Turkish people has not changed.”

“We have questions only to the current Turkish government,” Lavrov noted.

But Russia will seriously reassess all agreements with Turkey, he added. As for specific measures, we’ve recommended our citizens not to travel to Turkey, Lavrov said.

“In regard to the current level of our relations and agreements that we have concluded with the Turkish government currently in force in Ankara, as the [Russian] president has said, we will seriously reassess and review everything that is going on in our relations taking into count the attack that was delivered against our airplane,” Lavrov said at a press conference.

Too many indicators showing terrorist threats have appeared on Turkish soil, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

“We cannot leave everything that has happened without a reaction not because we have to respond somehow, that’s not it. Actually there have been too many indicators on Turkish soil that show a direct terrorist threat to our citizens,” Lavrov said at a press conference.

Russia may raise the issue in the UN Security Council of developing an overall understanding on the fight against channels of equipping and financing militants in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has said a political process to end the country’s bloody civil war cannot begin while it is occupied by “terrorists,” the BBC reports.

Mr Assad told Italian state television the timetable for elections “starts after starting to defeat terrorism”.

It is unclear whether he was referring only to Islamic State (IS) militants or also to Western-backed rebels.

Last week, 19 countries – including Mr Assad’s allies – set a deadline of 1 January for the start of peace talks.

They signed a UN statement that calls for a ceasefire to be agreed by 14 May 2016 and for free elections to be held a year later.

Neither the Syrian government nor opposition were invited to take part in the event in Vienna so that the countries could present a unified message.

In an interview with Rai TV broadcast on Wednesday night, the Syrian president stressed that no deadline for the start of a political transition could be set while parts of the country were not controlled by his government.

“This timetable starts after starting defeating terrorism. You cannot achieve anything politically while you have the terrorists taking over many areas in Syria,” he said.

“If we talk after that, one year and a half to two years is enough for any transition.”

The president also insisted in the interview that Syria was not an “incubator” for IS, which controls large parts of the country’s north and east.

The rise of the group, which “started in Iraq”, was the result of “the support of the Turks and the Saudis and Qataris, and of course the Western policy that supported the terrorists in different ways”, he said.

Photo: Valery Sharifulin/TASS

The Syrian army supported by Russian warplanes has liberated 80 populated localities and regained control over a territory of over 500 square kilometres, Valery Gerasimov, the chief of staff of the Russian Armed Forces, reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, TASS reports.

“The Syrian army has liberated 80 populated localities for the first time during the four years of military hostilities and has established control over a territory of more than 500 square kilometres,” Gerasimov said.

Russia started a military operation against the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups on September 30 this year at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

French fighter jets launched their biggest raids in Syria to date targeting the Islamic State’s stronghold in Raqqa just two days after the group claimed coordinated attacks in Paris that killed more than 130 people, the defense ministry said, Reuters reports.

“The raid … including 10 fighter jets, was launched simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Twenty bombs were dropped,” the statement said, adding that the mission had taken place this evening.

The operation, carried out in coordination with U.S. forces, struck a command center, recruitment center for jihadists, a munitions depot and a training camp for fighters, it said.
Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/15/us-france-shooting-airstrikes-idUSKCN0T416F20151115#kyWt4ggzd8jFkPVT.99

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has sent a telegram of condolences to President Vladimir Putin of Russia over the crash of the Russian airliner en route from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg, which claimed the lives of all 224 people on board.

“On behalf of the people of Armenia and on my own behalf, on this hard moment for Russia, I express sincere condolences to you, the relatives of the victims and the brotherly people of Russia,” President Sargsyan wrote.

The Chamber of Senators of Paraguay unanimously adopted a declaration Thursday recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923, according to the

The bill was presented by Senators Pedro Santa Cruz, Victor Bogado, Arnoldo Wiens, Eduardo Petta San Martin, Carlos Amarilla, Miguel Abdon Saguier, Arnaldo Giuzzio, Roberto Acevedo and Sixto Pereira.

TBS has decided to postpone Conan O’Brien’s Armenia special for a week to avoid Republicans debates. It will air on November 17 instead of 10.

Before that Conan speaks of his 4-day ‘fascinating’ trip to Armenia and tells about the millions of crazy Armenian experiences.

“It’s going to be a great show. The people of Armenia are amazing. It was a glorious experience,” Conan says.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire 150 times overnight, the Armenian Ministry of Defense reports.

The rival fired more than 3,000 shots from weapons of different caliber, including 82mm mortars, in the direction of the Armenian positions

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army confidently continue with their military duty and resort to retaliatory measure when necessary.

Yanair, a regional airline from Ukraine, will launch Kiev-Yerevan flights from November 24. The flights will be operated with Boeing 737 aircrafts twice a week – on Tuesdays and Fridays, reports.

The plane will take off from “Kiev” Airport at 07:50 and  land in Yerevan at 12:30. The flights from Yerevan are scheduled for 13:45 local time.

The one-way tickets will cost $140, a return ticket will cost at least $225.