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According To Iran News, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif welcomed a proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin to create a green corridor for the global battle with the coronavirus pandemic.

“In order to contain the situation of coronavirus, different countries have closed their geographical borders, but opened them to provide assistance,” Zarif said in a tweet on Wednesday, posted in the Russian language.

“(US President) Donald Trump continues to resist the international demand for lifting the sanctions on Iran in order to counter the coronavirus infection. Coronavirus may spread to the neighboring countries,” he added.

“Iran welcomes the Russian idea of ‘creating a green corridor instead of an economic war and sanctions’,” Zarif emphasized.

Last week, Putin called for a common plan to support the global economy. Speaking via teleconference to the leaders of the G-20 group of nations, the Russian president urged the creation of ‘green corridors’ to transport essential goods and technologies without sanctions as the world continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic.

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According To Iran News, A Russian military transport plane took off from an airfield outside Moscow early on Wednesday and headed for the United States with a load of medical equipment and masks to help Washington fight coronavirus, Russian state TV reported.

President Vladimir Putin offered Russian help in a phone conversation with President Donald Trump on Monday, when the two leaders discussed how best to respond to the virus.

The flight, which was organized by the Russian Defense Ministry, is likely to be unpopular with some critics of Trump who have urged him to keep his distance from Putin and who argue that Moscow uses such aid as a geopolitical and propaganda tool to advance its influence, something the Kremlin denies.

“Trump gratefully accepted this humanitarian aid,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying by the Interfax news agency on Tuesday night.

Trump himself spoke enthusiastically about the Russian help after his call with Putin, Reuters reported.

Russia’s Rossiya 24 channel on Wednesday morning showed the plane taking off from a military air base outside Moscow in darkness. Its cargo hold was filled with cardboard boxes and other packages.

Confirmed US cases have surged to 187,000 and over 4000 people have already died there from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

In Russia, where some doctors have questioned the accuracy of official data, the official tally of confirmed cases is 2,337 cases with 17 deaths.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have been strained in recent years by everything from Syria to Ukraine to election interference, something Russia denies.

Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said Moscow hoped the United States might also be able to provide medical help to Russia if necessary when the time came.

“It is important to note that when offering assistance to US colleagues, the president (Putin) assumes that when US manufacturers of medical equipment and materials gain momentum, they will also be able to reciprocate if necessary,” Peskov was cited as saying.

Peskov, who complained about difficulties expediting the aid to the United States thrown up by some US officials, was quoted as saying that Russia and China cooperated in a similar way because “at a time when the current situation affects everyone without exception … there is no alternative to working together in a spirit of partnership and mutual assistance”.

Russia has also used its military to send planeloads of aid to Italy to combat the spread of coronavirus, exposing the European Union’s failure to provide swift help to a member in crisis and handing Putin a publicity coup at home and abroad.

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According To Iran News, The West’s Russophobic obsession should have abated amid the coronavirus pandemic but baseless accusations continue, Russia’s presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Claims that Russia has been feeding disinformation campaign on the coronavirus pandemic are unfounded, Peskov said, Sputnik reported.

Earlier, Reuters cited a European Union document it had seen, that Russian media had been allegedly feeding a “significant disinformation campaign” against the West to spread panic over the new coronavirus pandemic and sow distrust in governments’ measures to fight the deadly virus.

“The overarching aim of Kremlin disinformation is to aggravate the public health crisis in Western countries … In line with the Kremlin’s broader strategy of attempting to subvert European societies,” the document, dated March 16, said, as quoted by Reuters.

Peskov said that he could have said something more definitive about these claims if the name of at least one media outlet had been mentioned in the document.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised European countries for taking ‘reasonable’ emergency measures aimed at stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus and expressed hope that this response will be efficient.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has reached 147, with thirty-three new cases registered in the past 24 hours.

Globally, the new coronavirus has been reported in more than 150 countries, claiming the lives of over 8,000 people and infecting more than 201,000.

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According To Iran News, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have announced a military ceasefire in Idlib, after a six-hour meeting in Moscow on Thursday.

The announcement that took effect from midnight on Friday will end weeks of heavy fighting that sparked a humanitarian disaster and raised fears of their armies clashing, MoscowTimes reported.

The agreement will also create a security corridor along the key M4 highway in northern Syria, where Turkish and Russian forces will launch joint patrols from March 15.

The deal aims to put a stop to intense fighting in Idlib, the northwestern province of Syria where Ankara is battling Moscow-backed government forces.

Nearly a million of civilians have fled their homes due to the violence.

Putin told a joint press conference after the talks that the agreement would “serve as a good basis for ending fighting” in Idlib and for “stopping the suffering of the civilian population”.

“The object is to avoid the humanitarian crisis getting worse,” Erdogan said, though he added that Turkey reserved the right to “retaliate with all its strength against any attack” by Damascus.

The situation in Idlib, the last militant stronghold in Syria’s nine-year civil war, had become critical as Ankara for the first time launched a direct offensive against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Turkey has long backed certain militant groups against Assad forces but its priority now is to stop an influx of refugees among those fleeing an offensive the Syrian government has been pressing on terror cells in Idlib since December.

Ankara has demanded the European Union support its actions in Syria and last week opened its border with Greece to migrants — a move decried by some in the bloc as “blackmail”.

Despite supporting opposing sides in the war, Russia and Turkey have worked to try to resolve the conflict and avoid direct confrontation.

The two countries agreed a deal in the southern Russian city of Sochi in 2018 that created a “de-escalation” zone in Idlib and allowed for the deployment of 12 Turkish observation posts.

In the run-up to Thursday’s talks, the two sides had traded accusations of violating the deal.

Ankara said Russia was not fulfilling part of the agreement that guaranteed no attacks on Idlib and the status quo on the ground.

Moscow in turn said Turkey was breaching the agreement by supporting “illegal armed groups” and accused Turkish forces of mingling with “terrorists” in Idlib.

Turkey officially declared an operation against the Assad government over the weekend, after 34 Turkish soldiers died in an air strike blamed on Damascus.

It has since downed three Syrian warplanes and killed dozens of soldiers and allied fighters, according to monitors. Fighting continued in the province on Thursday.

Erdogan warned Europe on Wednesday that it must support Turkey’s “political and humanitarian solutions in Syria” if it wants to avoid a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis.

Thousands of migrants have massed at the Turkish-Greek border since Erdogan gave them the green light to try to enter Europe, leading to clashes with Greek police.

Turkey hosts roughly 3.6 million refugees from Syria — and hundreds of thousands from elsewhere — and Erdogan’s move has sparked concern in Europe of a renewed influx of migrants.

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According To Iran News, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would be prepared to hold discussions with US President Donald Trump on the future of the Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START).

Refusing to prolong the agreement would be a mistake, he told TASS in an interview for the project entitled “20 Questions with Vladimir Putin”.

“I can talk about that with him. I do not mind. I’m well-versed on this issue. I can discuss it with anyone,” Putin said, adding that he was up-to-date on the topic and ready to discuss it with anyone.

“The New START treaty should be extended,” he said.

Asked why the US was reluctant to agree to the treaty’s prolongation, Putin said that it might have been due to the way Washington interpreted security and ways of maintaining it.

Earlier, Putin invited the United States to prolong the agreement without any preconditions. There has been no reply from Washington to this day.

Moscow and Washington signed the Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms in 2010. Under its terms, either country must reduce its strategic offensive arms in such a way that at the end of the seventh year following its entry into force and later on their overall amounts should not exceed 700 units of deployed inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and heavy bombers, 1,550 warheads and 800 operational and non-operational missile launchers and strategic bombers.

The treaty was concluded for a period of ten years (until February 5, 2021). It can be replaced by a follow-up agreement before the deadline expires, or prolonged for no more than five years (until 2026) by mutual consent.

Moscow urges Washington to refrain from procrastinating on the treaty’s extension, because in its opinion it is the “gold standard” in the field of disarmament.

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IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani, in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Putin, said that the situation in Syria’s Idlib is worrying and the decisions made under the Astana Process must be operationalized as soon as possible.

Speaking with Russian President Putin, President Rouhani mentioned the recent developments in Idlib and his phone call earlier with the President of Turkey in this regard, saying, “The situation in Idlib is worrying and the decisions made under the Astana Process must be operationalized as soon as possible so that peace and security is returned to the region and terrorism is eradicated.”

Stating that it is not acceptable that a part of Syria is under the control of terrorists, he said, “As it has been stressed repeatedly, the solution to the Syrian issue is merely political and will be resolved only through dialogue and we must not let the situation in Idlib turn into a pretext for America’s interference and misuse of the Syrian issue.”

President Rouhani also voiced Iran’s readiness to host the next summit of Iran, Russia, and Turkey in continuation of the Astana Process, saying: “In the recent years, great actions have been taken in fighting terrorism through the cooperation of Iran, Russia, and Syria, the impacts and results of which must be protected.”

“In the Idlib issue, we are fully ready to reach a political and security solution agreed by all three countries,” he continued.

President Rouhani described the relations between the two countries good and developing in all fields, saying: “We are ready to increase cooperation in all areas of interests to both countries.”

On the recent developments regarding the nuclear issue, the President appreciated Moscow’s stances regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said: “We will live up to our commitments until the time we enjoy the interests of the agreement, and we hope that this agreement is saved with other parties’ cooperation.”

At the same phone call, the President of Russia expressed sympathy with the Iranian government and people on the lives lost because of coronavirus, and welcomed Iranian President’s suggestion for quick implementation of health protocols, adding, “We are ready to cooperate with Iran for quick implementation of health protocols.”

Vladimir Putin stressed cooperation between Iran and Russia on JCPOA, saying: “The recent summit of experts in Vienna laid the ground for settling this issue, especially with regard to the fact that Tehran has cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)”.

Russian President also referred to the agreements within the framework of Astana Process for resolving the Syrian issue as a very effective move, saying: “Creating de-escalation zones must not mean not fighting with terrorism.”

Stressing the importance of preserving the territorial integrity of Syria, Putin said: “It is the Syrian government’s right to react for fighting terrorism in its land”.

Welcoming Iran’s readiness to host the next tripartite summit, he said: “The next summit of the three countries in Iran can help achieve a solution”.

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held phone conversations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the latest development in Syria’s Idlib.

“The issue of Idlib is very complicated given the community of dangerous terrorists and the protection of the lives of innocent people living in the area, which on the one hand must protect human lives and on the other, the terrorists must be eradicated,” said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday.

Referring to the special importance of the trilateral cooperation of Iran, Turkey and Russia to resolve the Syrian problem in order to strengthen the Astana process, Rouhani noted, “Trilateral cooperation at various levels is of particular importance, and as previously mentioned, Iran is ready to host the next round of this trilateral summit.”

“Certainly, increasing the tension is not in the interest of anyone in the region, and we must resolve the issues through dialogue and should not allow the Astana process to weaken,” he added.

He also suggested holding trilateral summit of Iran, Turkey and Syria to resolve Idlib issue, saying, “We can resolve differences at this meeting, given our agreement on principles such as preserving Syria’s territorial integrity, eradicating terrorists, preserving the lives of innocent people, and quickly resolving the issue of Idlib.”

After his conversation with Turkish President on Saturday evening, Rouhani also held phone talks with Vladimir Putin.

No further details about the talk have been yet revealed by the official website of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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According To Iran News, The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a senior Ukrainian-born Russian official was now in charge of managing Moscow’s relations with Ukraine, a move likely to be seen by some politicians in Kiev as further evidence of a slight thaw in ties.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, was now the most senior Kremlin official when it came to Ukraine.

Kozak, a lawyer by education, was born in what used to be Soviet Ukraine.

Vladislav Surkov, seen as a hardliner by many in Kiev, had previously overseen Russia’s relations with Ukraine, a role that saw him negotiate and advise Putin on the subject. Peskov said Surkov still worked for the Kremlin, but did not elaborate, Reuters reported.

Relations between Moscow and Kiev were derailed after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and Moscow-backed separatists launched an uprising in Donbass, eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 13,000 people. Russia denies any role in the conflict.

Russia and Ukraine are wrangling over how to implement a peace deal on Donbass, but major disagreements remain and full normalization is far off.

Under Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, there has been some movement however with a peace summit held in Paris in December with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany. That was followed by a large-scale prisoner swap.

Zelenskiy on Tuesday appointed a former lawyer called Andriy Yermak as his chief of staff.

Yermak, who was involved in negotiating prisoner swaps with Russia, told the Ukraine 24 TV channel on Monday that he had met Kozak and thought he was an improvement on Surkov.

 “It seems to me that he (Kozak) is more inclined to dialogue. And on the issues on which I spoke with him, I can say that we had constructive communication, without which nothing would be possible of what we have already seen,” Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency cited Yermak as saying.

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According To Iran News, The development of Japanese-Russian relations has reached unprecedented heights over the past year due to implementing joint economic projects in the Southern Kuril Islands, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during the debate in the parliament on Wednesday.

“Over the past year, the development of relations between Japan and Russia on the basis of agreements in Nagato (during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Japan in 2016) reached an unprecedented level,” Abe said answering a question of Yukio Edano, leader of the opposition’s Constitutional Democratic Party.

As an example, Abe cited launching the first tour to the Southern Kuril Islands for Japanese tourists and also allowing access to the islands for Japanese citizens, who used to reside there. “We will continue persistent talks in order to solve the territorial issue and sign a peace treaty,” the prime minister said, TASS reported.

Russia and Japan have been in talks to sign a peace treaty since the mid-20th century. The main stumbling block to achieving this is the ownership issue over the Southern Kuril Islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan. After the end of World War II, the Kuril Islands were incorporated into the Soviet Union. However, the ownership of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan Islands and the Habomai Islands has been challenged by Japan. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said “Russia’s sovereignty” over these islands, which is committed to paper in international documents, cannot be called in question.

In November 2018, Putin and Abe held a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Singapore and agreed that the two countries would accelerate the pace of the peace negotiations based on the 1956 Joint Declaration. The declaration ended the state of war and said that the Soviet government was ready to hand Shikotan Island and a group of small islands called Habomai over to Japan on condition that Tokyo would take control of them once a peace treaty was signed.

In May 2019, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov highlighted that the document clearly said that the border issue could be only considered after signing a peace treaty.

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