Breaking News, 3rd of April, 2018

An assistant of the Russian president, Yuri Ushakov, announced that today in Ankara, Vladimir Putin and Redjep Tayyip Erdogan plan to discuss the situation in Syria, and cooperation in the energy matters. In addition to that topic, agriculture trade will be also discussed. Earlier Ushakov said that the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran, at the meeting in Ankara, will «check the clock» on the implementation of the UN Security Council’s resolution on a ceasefire in Syria.

Chinese Ambassador to the USA, Cui Tiankai, in an interview to CCTV news channel announced that if new trade restrictions would be introduced by Washington, Beijing would give a mirror answer in the same volume. On April 2nd, China decided to impose trade duties of 15% and 25% on a list of 128 goods, imported from the United States. This was done in response to the duties on steel and aluminum introduced by Washington earlier, as well as the introduction of trade restrictions on China.

A criminal case was filed against two Moscow residents about the financing of the terrorist activities of the international terrorist organization «Islamic State». This was reported by the press service of the Investigative Committee. «The 36-year-old and 31-year-old defendants systematically transferred money to the accounts of the international terrorist organization «Islamic State» — the Investigative Committee said. Currently, both suspects are detained.

The Russian command of the Black Sea Fleet is considering options of using force for ensuring the safety of shipping in the north-eastern parts of Black Sea, and the Azov Sea water area, after the incident with the detention of vessel «Nord» from the Crimea by Ukrainian coast guards. »The aggressive actions of Ukrainian maritime border guards in international waters not only pose a risk of seizure of Russian ships, but also pose the risk of formation of state-backed piracy. The threat of Ukrainian state piracy has already emerged.» — the fleet’s press service reports.

The joint investigation team that investigates the circumstances of the collapse of a Boeing passenger plane in Ukraine, after studying the radar data submitted by the Russian side, concluded that the missile that shot down the plane could be invisible to Russian radars because of its high speed, which was significantly higher than the speed of the passenger aircraft itself, TASS news agency reports. According to the findings of the investigation team, the missile could be launched from the SAM system »BUK», from the location that had been established earlier. Aside from that, the experts confirmed that there were no other planes near MN17 in the images.

As a result of the air strike of Afghanistan’s air forces at a madrasah in the city of Kunduz in the north of the country, at least sixty civilians were killed and over fifty people were injured, RIA NEWS reports while citing the statement of Afghan senator Abdullah Karlak. According to him, as a result of the air strike — 85 people were killed, 60 of them were civilians and 25 of them were fighters of the Taliban movement. The chairman of the Senate of Afghanistan urged the government to arrest those who ordered to launch the air strike, and bring them to justice.