Press Digest: Ankara and Moscow still have desire to strengthen cooperation

The Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper has published an article on Turkey's willingness to work with Russia in regulating the situation in the Middle East. Source: AFP\East News

The Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper has published an article on Turkey's willingness to work with Russia in regulating the situation in the Middle East. Source: AFP\East News

RBTH presents a selection of views from leading Russian media on international events, featuring a report on the latest stage of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine over gas payments, an interview with the former Turkish deputy foreign minister about the prospects of closer collaboration between Russia and Turkey, and a report on the results of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi’s visit to Tehran.

Kommersant

The Kommersant newspaper has been following the Russian-Ukrainian gas negotiations. According to the newspaper, the trilateral meeting with the participation of EU representatives has ended without any results: The issue of financing Russian gas supplies to Ukraine remains unresolved. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that neither the Ukrainian nor the European side was able to guarantee the payment for the 4 billion cubic meters of gas that Ukrainian Naftogaz intends to buy from Gazprom before the end of the year on a prepayment basis. European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger announced that before the next round of talks the EU Commission will determine how much gas Ukraine will be able to buy independently with its own budget, says Kommersant.

The EU also refused to give Naftogaz the resources to cover the company's $1.6-billion ‘cash gap’, which has become apparent after Gazprom said that it would supply gas to Ukraine only on a prepayment basis. However, the EU Commission has suggested using a mediator that would be able to supply the gas, writes Kommersant.

Kommersant also reports on the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi to Iran. The main issue of discussion with Iran's government and President Hassan Rouhani was Teheran and Baghdad's cooperation in fighting the ISIS terrorist group.

Since the U.S. and its Western allies do not intend to carry out a ground operation against the militias, the Iraqi government is trying to obtain more active support on a regional level, says the newspaper. ISIS, which is now advancing on Baghdad, already controls a series of Iraqi towns on the border with Iran. Kommersant explains that it is precisely this situation that has motivated Iran to give Iraq military assistance. Moreover, Iran was the first country that started supplying arms to the Kurdish troops fighting ISIS in northern Iraq.

Iran is also trying to take advantage of the situation in order to challenge the United States’ leadership in Iraq and says that the plan to create an international coalition headed by the U.S. to fight the ISIS militias is "a failure," concludes Kommersant.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

The Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper has published an article on Turkey's willingness to work with Russia in regulating the situation in the Middle East. The newspaper has interviewed former Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Umit Pamir, who said that for Turkey to participate more actively in ending the crisis, a no-fly zone in Syria and a security zone on the Turkish border must be created. Then Turkey will be able to look after the civilian population in Syrian neighborhoods located near the border.

According to President of the Global Relations Forum Memduh Karakullukçu, despite the disagreements with Russia regarding the annexation of Crimea, both countries are interested in the region's stability. It is important that the problems that divide the countries do not impede them from finding common ground where their interests converge. And both Ankara and Moscow still nurture the desire to strengthen trust and cooperation, regardless of the escalation of the international situation, remarks Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

The newspaper cites the current Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as saying that Turkey may allow Iraqi Kurdish military groups to cross the border to Syria in order to help their brothers repel the advance of the Islamic State (ISIS) militias.

 

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