Moscow

Aviation experts on March 20 began examining the black boxes from the FlyDubai flight that crashed amid high winds at an airport in southern Russia, while emergency workers finished combing the debris-laden runway.

Both Greece and Bulgaria, two of Turkey's neighbors, have stepped forward to lure Russian tourists, who have abstained from their most popular destination as part of Moscow sanctions on Ankara due to the downing of Russian military plane last November.

Putin's sudden announcement of partial withdrawal from Syria left us all stunned. Why would any leader withdraw his soldiers in the midst of a war? What is Putin after?

Turkey's Renaissance Construction has won a tender to build a terminal and tunnel at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, Mikhail Vasilenko, Sheremetyevo's chief executive, said on March 18, as quoted by Reuters. 

However, the company said in a written statement on March 18, the tender process was still ongoing and that no formal decision had yet been made. 

Turkey's Renaissance Construction has won a tender to build a terminal and tunnel at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, Mikhail Vasilenko, Sheremetyevo's chief executive, said on March 18.

The choice of a Turkish firm is unusual because Moscow imposed sanctions on Ankara after Turkey downed a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in November.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 17 declared his country's Syria mission a resounding success, but stressed Russia would continue to support the Syrian government and could build up its military presence in the region again within hours if necessary. 

Russia will complete the withdrawal of the bulk of its forces from Syria before the end of the week, a top Russian general suggested in an interview published on March 17.

Turkey and Russia have been locked in an angry dispute over Syria ever since the Turkish Air Force downed a Russian fighter jet in November 2015. That move by Turkey backfired by pushing Moscow into supporting Syrian Kurdish fighters who Ankara considers to be terrorists.

Russia's federal tourism agency Rostourism restored 13 out of 19 licenses of Turkish-owned tour operators that were revoked as part of Moscow's sanctions against Turkey last December, as reported by Russian media on March 16. 

Turkey has reiterated that it does not recognize the result of a 2014 referendum in Crimea in which voters elected to join Russia, the Foreign Ministry has said in a statement on the second anniversary of the event.