Russia

There are two weak links lying behind the delay in advancing the al-Bab operation. 

Last week, Russian planes killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded 11 in "friendly fire" on the same day as the new head of the CIA visited Turkey. 

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahçeli on Feb. 12 slammed a Russian statement on the "friendly fire" in Syria's al-Bab on Feb. 10 that led to the deaths of three Turkish soldiers, describing it as a "shame."

BELGRADE - Alexander Karpushin, Russia's ambassador to Albania, told "Koha Ditore" that UN Resolution 1244 does not allow the formation of the Army of Kosovo.

Russia's PM Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the Economic Development Ministry to sign, on behalf of the government, a medium-term programme for cooperation with Turkey.

The document which has already been prepared concerns the period from 2017 until 2020.

BELGRADE - An attempt to privatise Serbia's pharmaceuticals giant Galenika fell through on Wednesday after a meeting with a potential strategic partner, a Russian-British consortium, ended in no deal on a takeover of the company's debts to commercial banks.

BELGRADE - Serbia should immediately join the talks on construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project. Otherwise, the country risks facing a serious shortage of gas supplies, former Serbian diplomat and author Srecko Djukic said.

Russia could return Edward Snowden to the US as a “gift” to President Donald Trump, according to two US intelligence sources cited by NBC News on Friday. One unnamed official, who NBC said gleaned information from “a series of highly sensitive intelligence reports,” said such a move could be an attempt to “curry favor” with the Trump administration.

Civil engineering company Riko signed a contract to build two factories for wheat processing, which its boss Janez Škrabec said was worth more than EUR 100m.

One of the factories will be built in the Oryol region, Škrabec told the STA and said that several Slovenian companies could take part in the project.

BELGRADE - The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is one of the few successful regional initiatives with tangible results over the past 10 years and more, Serbian Minister of Trade Rasim Ljajic said Wednesday.

The CEFTA countries are Serbia's second largest foreign trade partner - second only to the EU - and Serbia now has a 2.1 bln euro surplus with the CEFTA countries.