Russia

Lyutvi Mestan, the former leader of DPS party who was expelled last year, vowed that his new political project will adhere to "liberal and Euro-Atlantic" values.

In an interview with private national NOVA TV broadcaster on Tuesday, he said that the crisis in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party was the outcome of its ever more outspoken "pro-Russian" orientation.

It's almost like a bad joke.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained seven suspected members of the Islamic State group who allegedly planned terrorist attacks in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Urals.

The group, arrested in Yekaterinburg, comprised citizens of Russia and countries of Central Asia and was led by one of its members who had  arrived from Turkey, FSB said in a statement on Monday.

Syrian army troops recaptured a new village north of Aleppo on Feb. 8, bringing troops and allied militiamen to within a few kilometers of the Turkish border, while around 30,000 Syrians have massed at the Turkish-Syrian border due to a major Russian-backed offensive in the area, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has said. 

Inside an old Saint Petersburg apartment that was once home to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a new exhibition plunges visitors into the dark and complex world of "Crime and Punishment," shedding new light on one of Russia's greatest literary works 150 years after its publication.

Germany and Turkey have pledged to exert joint efforts to secure NATO's involvement in curbing the refugee flow to Europe, while also jointly calling for further global action to ensure Russia's compliance with a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at protecting civilians in war-torn Syria.

Turkey has condemned the launch of a long-range rocket by North Korea, calling it a violation of international obligations, the Foreign Ministry said on Feb. 7 in a statement.

"As with the fourth nuclear test by North Korea on Jan. 6, this launch constitutes once again a total disregard to regional and international security and stability," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.      

The number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey's top holiday resort town of Antalya decreased by 81 percent, as their numbers plummeted to 2,427 in January from 12,870 of January 2015 while the total number of tourists visiting the city in January decreased 17 percent, according to official figures.  

Representatives of "the Turkish state" are applying pressure on ethnic Turks in Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov, former President (2002-2012) and leader of coalition ally ABV, has said.

"I am laughing about Russia's approach," said President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an when answering Russian claims that Turkey is preparing a military operation in Syria.

Next day he was asked whether there could be a de-facto situation in Syria.

This is what he said: