position:kremlin spokesman

  • Kremlin says Syrian territorial integrity fundamental for Russia Reuters 11 mars 2016
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-kremlin-idUSKCN0WD0XT

    The Kremlin said on Friday that maintaining Syria’s territorial integrity was vital for Russia and that it expected all the relevant delegations to attend peace talks aimed at ending the Syrian conflict in Geneva next week.
    Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told reporters keeping Syria territorially whole was probably “a cornerstone” for many countries and a priority for Russia.

    #partition #Syrie #Russie

    • Ni partition ni fédéralisation forcée :
      Russia says no to Syrian federalization as former NATO commander talks partition
      https://www.rt.com/news/335384-syria-ceasefire-federalization-partition

      “While insisting on retaining the territorial integrity of Syria, so continuing to keep it as a single country, of course there are all sorts of different models of a federal structure that would, in some models, have a very, very loose center and a lot of autonomy for different regions,” a diplomatic source at the UN Security Council told the agency.
      However, the Kremlin responded by saying that no such talks were on the table – a message that was emphasized by Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday.
      “That is total nonsense. We are not voicing such ideas; they must come from the Syrians themselves – it is up to them to discuss and agree on such things,” deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, as cited by TASS.
      Bogdanov added that, from Russia’s point of view, it is better to maintain Syria’s territorial integrity and keep its people intact.

  • Israel hits Damascus, Russia looks away – Indian Punchline
    By M K Bhadrakuma – December 23, 2015
    http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2015/12/23/israel-hits-damascus-russia-looks-away

    The assassination of the Lebanese resistance’s war hero and Hezbollah leader Samir Kuntar in the city of Damascus on Sunday in what is believed to be an Israeli air raid took place right under the Russian nose. Yet Moscow didn’t sneeze. Ever read the famous line in Sherlock Holmes’ Silver Blaze hinging on the ‘curious incident of the dog in the night-time’ (which failed to bark)? The Russian ambivalence comes out in the Kremlin spokesman’s non-committal reaction.

    Israel no doubt pushed the envelope and seems to have got away with it. On Tuesday, in good measure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned President Vladimir Putin and reached an agreement “in particular to further coordinate anti-terrorist actions” in Syria, apart from discussing the development of cooperation between the two countries in various spheres”.

    To be sure, Moscow is not unaware of the bio profile of the slain Lebanese resistance leader. The RT, in fact, featured a column depicting fairly accurately the cold-blooded logic behind the Israeli decision to eliminate Kuntar (involving an operation on Damascus which is protected by Russia’s famous S-400 missiles and, doubtless would have been approved by ‘Bibi’ himself.) The columnist held out a vague warning to Israel, “Should a similar incident occur again no doubt Russian officials will intervene to stop further Israeli planes flying above an already overcrowded sky”.(RT).

    But, will the dog really bark the next time Israel comes to steal another Hezbollah race horse? The jury is out. The point is, Russia is finding itself between the rock and a hard place.

    Clearly, it is averse to confronting Israel, which may not be a NATO power but enjoys seamless American protection. Yet, Hezbollah is Russia’s crucial partner in Syria. Analysts generally agree that without the Hezbollah’s help, the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad might have packed up. Moscow ought to be quietly pleased with the stellar role Hezbollah militia is performing on the ground in Syria currently in military operations such as the one around Aleppo.

    But then, Russia is also not willing to stick out its neck to protect Hezbollah, although the Israeli ploy to provoke it and distract it from its Syrian campaign against the Islamic State and other extremist groups cannot be in Moscow’s interests either. Truly, the Syrian conflict is riddled with contradictions and what we are witnessing here is one of the major contradictions in the Russian strategy.

    Russia would know that Israel has supported al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria fighting the Syrian regime. But, unlike with Turkey, Moscow prefers to deal with Israel wearing velvet gloves. For one thing, there are umbilical cords that tie the Russian and Israeli political elites, and, besides, on a deeper plane, Russia and Israel are on the same page vis-a-vis ‘Islamic terrorism’. (...)

    #Samir_Kuntar
    #Hezbollah #Russie #Israël #Syrie

  • Kremlin to consider plans which could remove Russia from global Internet ’in an emergency’ - Europe - World - The Independent
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/kremlin-to-consider-plans-which-could-remove-russia-from-global-inter

    Russia may remove itself from the global Internet to protect itself against perceived threats from the West, a Kremlin spokesman suggested on Friday.

    The Krelmin dismissed accusations it aims to isolate the Russian Internet, and insists it is merely concerned with protecting its national security – particularly as relations with the West have reached their lowest since the Cold War.

    However, the country has recently passed several laws targeting Internet use, which include making popular bloggers register as media outlets, and forcing websites to store the personal data of Russian users.

    En France, la conservation des données d’identification par les FAI est obligatoire depuis mars 2011, application (tardive) de la LCEN de juin 2004 !