Report Russia

A lot of speculation is swirling around nowadays concerning the words of Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari in relation to Israel’s illegal and aggressive airstrikes against the Syrian Arab Army near Palmyra last weekend.
Many people are interpreting Jaafari’s comment as conveying the idea that President Putin supposedly issued a threat to the new Israeli Ambassador, who was unprecedentedly summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs just a day after presenting his credentials.

The Ukrainian authorities have acted on their threat to ban Yulia Samoilova – the wheelchair bound signer the Russians have picked to represent them in this year’s Eurovision song contest in Kiev – from travelling to Ukraine.
The grounds for this ban are that Samoilova violated Ukrainian law by taking part in a concert in Crimea in 2015.

The alternative media community, especially its social media iteration, is experiencing collective psychosis in hallucinating that “Israel” and Russia are on the verge of war with one another.
The prevailing narrative is that Israeli “Defense Minister” Lieberman’s threat to destroy Syria’s air defense systems is tantamount to a declaration of war against Russia, with the assumption being that Moscow is on a crusade against Zionism and has thus become Tel Aviv’s worst enemy.

Following US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s successful visit to China, it has been confirmed that Xi Jinping, China’s President and paramount leader, will be travel to Washington in early April to meet with US President Donald Trump.

As Ukraine becomes increasingly engulfed by crisis, the IMF has postponed the decision as to whether or not to provide Ukraine with the latest tranche of its bailout funding.
That decision was supposed to be made today (Monday 20th March 2017).  Instead, without any formal announcement, the IMF put off the decision, giving no date for when it would be made.

The Russians have now formally confirmed earlier media reports that following the Israeli air raid on Syria on Friday the Israeli ambassador in Moscow was called in to the Russian Foreign Ministry to be handed a stern lecture and a stiff protest.
Moscow’s confirmation of the Russian protest to Israel, and the fact that the Israeli ambassador was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry within hours of the raid taking place, shows how seriously the Russians are treating this incident.

The contemporary foreign policy of the Russian Federation can be characterised as a pragmatic defence of self-interests along with the interests of its allies. All of these policies tend to be conducted within the framework of international law. In fact, Russia often finds herself having to define the precepts of international law to other nations who frequently violent it.

In contrast to what happened after the capture of Palmyra in March 2016, the Syrian army has been pressing on with its offensive against ISIS positions near Palmyra since its recent recapture of the city.
Most of the focus has been on gaining control of mountain areas north of Palmyra, which were used by ISIS in December as its launch point for its second capture of the city.

Israeli Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu has emerged after an illegal Israeli air strike on Syrian troops in Palmyra. In his statement, he predictably disregarded international law, but he also made what can only be described as a thinly veiled threat against Russia.

Donetsk People’s Republic leader, Alexander Zakharchenko has recently been in Crimea, celebrating the three year anniversary of Sevastopol and Crimea’s reunification with the rest of the Russian Federation.
It was here that Zakharchenko gave his clearest indication yet of where he sees his Republic in the near future. Many have questioned whether the future of the Donbass republics would be as sovereign states engaged in fraternal relations with Russia or whether in time they to would re-unite with their historic motherland.