In the next 24 hours, the Syrian army, with support of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Navy, will most likely start the operation to clear militants from Aleppo,  Izvestia reported on Tuesday, with reference to the first deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, Franz Klintsevich.

“It’s been almost three weeks since the humanitarian pauses followed one by one which, however, hardly made any progress. A humanitarian catastrophe is raging in Aleppo now. …

Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul was included on the Russian sanctions list because he had caused deliberate harm to relations between Moscow and Washington, as stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, on the air of the television station Russia-1, RBC reported.

She explained that McFaul’s proximity to the current US president, Barack Obama, was not the reason why he was put on the sanctions list, although he conjectured the opposite. …

Iceland expressed support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and the continuation of sanctions against neighboring Russia, stated the ambassador to Ukraine, Kristín Árnadóttir, during a meeting with the minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin.

“Iceland’s position regarding Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and also the sanctions policy against Russia, remains unchanged,” Árnadóttir noted.

As was noted in the ministry, Árnadóttir led the government delegation of Iceland …