Changes to the Constitution of the Russian Federation

1. Syria.

During a briefing, the head of the Center for the reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria, Major-General Yuri Borenkov, denied the reports from a number of mass media outlets that the US military impeded the work of the Russian patrols in the Syrian province of Hasakah. He underlined that «A communication channel still exists between the command of the Russian military group in Syria with the US Armed Forces operations center in the Middle East». It was also reported about an ongoing shelling of the positions of the Syrian armed forces and settlements by the illegal armed groups.

2 Syria

On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a joint statement, made by the inter-agency coordination HQs of Russia and Syria, which stated that instead of doing the previously announced withdrawal of the US troops — the US continue to increase their military contingent in the Middle East. “We strongly condemn the ongoing US attacks that violate the international law, undermine the sovereignty of the local states, and threaten the stability and security of the region” — the statement explained.

3 Russia

The Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree «On the working group gathered to prepare the proposals for the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation» — the Kremlin’s website reported. The group includes more than 70 people, such as public figures, lawmakers, scientists, musicians, artists, and athletes. The first meeting of the working group will be held on 17th of January. ‘TASS’ reports, while citing their source in the Russian Federation Council, that a country-wide vote on the amendments to the Constitution of Russia is planned to be held before 1st of May of 2020.

4 Libya

The head of the Libyan Government of National Accord, Faiz Sarraj, and the commander of the Libyan National Army, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, have confirmed their participation in the conference on the settlement of the crisis in Libya. The conference is planned for 19th of January, in Berlin. The prime minister announced it during a meeting on Wednesday night with the political and military leaders that support him — the Government of National Accord’s page on Facebook reports.

5 Turkey

On Thursday, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while speaking in the presidential palace, announced that Ankara began sending the troops to Libya in order to support the Government of National Accord, headed by Faiz Sarraj. He underlined that it would be legally impossible to conduct exploration drilling or laying pipelines without a permission from Libya and Turkey. On 5th of January the Turkish president announced the start of the deployment of the Turkish troops in Libya. He specified that their tasks include «coordination actions» and «the security of the legitimate government».

6 the USA — China

The US President, Donald Trump, and the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister, Liu He, signed the first set of documents related to the trade agreement in Washington. The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the spokesman of the US State Department, Morgan Ortagus, called the signing of the first phase of the trade agreement with China «a great victory» of the US. The US Vice President, Mike Pence, said during an interview to the ‘Fox Business Network’ that the negotiations between the US and China on the second phase of the trade agreement are already underway. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.