Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold Syria talks in Moscow on Wednesday, with Turkey saying they will focus on Ankara's so-called "security zone" in northern Syria, reported AFP.

Just about everyone knows that there is more than one dimension to the name dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

There is the geopolitical tension between the West and Russia, but there is also the role of Turkey and its continued penetration in the Balkans - using religion as a way in - which should be of particular concern to Western powers.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia on Jan. 23 for talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a bid to coordinate their actions after a decision by the United States to pullout its troops from the war-torn country.

And some of them are announcing the arrival of Donald Trump and of Angela Merkel.

Vladimir Vuletic, a sociologist, and Stanko Crnobrnja, a professor at the Faculty for Media and Communications, touched on this while speaking for Prva TV on Tuesday morning.

According to Blic, this is the message of the ambassadors of those countries posted Belgrade, Thomas Schieb and Frederic Mondoloni.

In an interview with thenewspaper, Mondoloni noted that in previous years the Serbian authorities made visible efforts to invite and welcome leaders from the main partner countries.

Russia and Japan's leaders meet for talks in Moscow Tuesday (Jan 22) over the disputed island chain that has long prevented a peace treaty to end World War II. But recent rhetoric has dampened hopes of a breakthrough, writes Channelnewsasia.

Some 7,500 participants from 9 countries are expected to take part in this year's edition of the international mummers festival "Surva" in Bulgaria's town of Pernik. They will present customs and traditions of ancient origin. The festival will run from 25th to 27th of January, reports BNT. 

Representatives of the European Commission, Russia and Ukraine will talk today on gas issues despite the forthcoming two-month holiday of the EU Energy Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, TASS reported.

And those, the president continued, must be compromise in nature.

The Republic of Palau is the 13th country that has withdrawn the recognition of Kosovo's independence. The president of that republic is in Belgrade, where he will meet with Aleksandar Vucic.

Kosovo is on its agenda, Dacic told Prva TV.

He added that Equatorial Guinea would be chairing the session, expected to take place on February 7.

The foreign minister said that EU High Representative Federica Mogherini's view was that any solution for Kosovo had to be presented to the Security Council.