Russian analyst Yuri Barmin has this snap analysis of Putin's state of the nation address this morning:
The spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve -- the U.S.-led military operation against IS -- has said the UK brings "serious air power" to the fight against IS in Syria.
Britain began air strikes against IS targets in Syria today after parliament voted in favor of the move last night.
The UK said today that it was sending additional war planes for the Syria strikes.
The spokesman tweeted that the UK has been one of the United States' "strongest allies" in the war against IS.
Erdogan: Turkey Has Proof Russia Involved In Illegal IS Oil Trading
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that he has evidence that Russia is involved with illegal IS oil trading.
Russia has made the same accusation about Turkey, claiming yesterday that Erdogan's family were involved in trading IS oil.
"We have the proof in our hands. We will reveal it to the world," Erdogan said in a televised address in Ankara, The Telegraph reports.
"In recent days a fashion led by Russia has emerged. Actually, Russia does not believe this either...Look, Russia has to prove that the Turkish republic buys oil from [IS], otherwise this is a slander," Erdogan added..
"The immoral side of this issue is involving my family in the affair."
Belgium has charged two new suspects in connection with the attacks in Paris last month, prosecutors said Thursday, bringing to eight the number of people it is holding in the case, AFP reports.
Flemish public television VRT said that one of the suspects -- a 20-year-old Frenchman -- knew Bilal Hadfi, one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up at the French national stadium. The suspect was held for questioning at Zaventem airport near Brussels.
The second suspect is a 28-year-old Belgian man and was arrested in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, where several of the Paris attackers had lived.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says he is willing to share details of the incident in which a Russian Su-24 jet was downed near the Syrian border, Reuters reports.
Magomed Edilsultanov of the Kavpolit news website, has found a post on an Instagram account that appears to have been written by Magomed Khaziev, the man beheaded by IS militants.
Khasiev was an orphan who says he took the name of his guardian, a Chechen woman. A Russian, Khasiev adopted Islam at the age of 10.
The Instagram post is an autobiography and a request to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov for help:
"I, Khasiev Magomed Akhmedovich. I was born in 1992 in Chelyabinsk Oblast, I am Russian by nationality, from the age of nine I was an orphan. From 2005-2006 I was in the Gvardeysky children's home in the Nadterechny District [of Chechnya].
From 2006 until I came of age I was under the guardianship of Markha Akhmedovna Khasieva, a resident of the village of Bratskoe in the Nadterechny District.
At the age of 10 I became a Muslim. Right now I am in the fourth year of the Maykop polytechnic college on a correspondence course... I live in my own apartment, given to me by my former guardian Khasieva. I want to spend my whole life in the Chechen Republic. I ask you, dear Ramzan Kadyrov, to help me find employment in my specialty (jurisprudence)."
Analyst: Turkey 'Trying To Crack Down On Middle Men Who Sell IS Oil'
Amid the back-and-forth between Russia and Turkey over Russia's allegations that Ankara is involved in buying IS oil, Aaron Stein, a Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council, tells RFE/RL that for the past six months Turkey has been trying to crack down on the middlemen who are involved in the oil trading.
According to Stein, the network of middlemen involved in the IS oil trade are also involved in the human smuggling trade that ships foreign fighters across the Turkey-Syria border.
"IS has a robust network of middle men it uses to transit Turkish territory. Gaziantep is a key hub, which feeds illicit smuggling near Elbeyli -- the main overland route for foreign fighters to IS controlled territory.
These smugglers move in two directions: The first is to ferry men and material to Syria. The other is to get people out of Syria and into Turkey," says Stein.
So what does Stein think about Russia's accusations that Turkey is involved in IS oil trade?
"Of course Turkey is involved: IS uses the border to resupply its territory," says Stein.
"For about a year, little was done to stop this. However, in the past 6 months or so, measures to stop smuggling have been enacted. Its not perfect. But its better than in 2013/2014."
However, Russia is also involved, Stein adds.
"[Russia's] key client, Assad, runs a similar smuggling network. Its a robust war economy that all sides are using these days," he says.
Interfax has more on today's comments by the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, regarding the Russian "spy" beheaded by IS militants.
"Yes, this is a Russian national, a Chechen, they cut off his head," Kadyrov said earlier today.
Kadyrov said that there was no evidence that the man had been in IS.
"I don't believe that. He was sitting there with a look as if he had been set up. As if he'd been told, 'now we're going to film you and then release you'," Kadyrov said.
"Chechens remember, know and do not leave. The person who cut our citizen and threaten the security of our state, won't live for long. We will send them to the next world and give them a one way ticket."
Russian intelligence services have denied that Magomed Khaziev, the Russian national beheaded by IS, worked for them, an FSB source has told Interfax.
"Most likely, the executed man had no relationship with our intelligence services. This is indicated by a number of factors," the source said.
The source said that if the IS militants really had found a spy in their midst, "they would definitely have used him in a negotiations process that would have brought much more benefit to the terrorists than simply killing him."
The FSB source did not elaborate on what the IS militants might have negotiated for.
"Apart from that, according to the existing practice, the bandits would have had to have given even a primitive sort of evidence of their suspicions, for example, a confession by the spy, a report of his intelligence, the intelligence of his leaders, the division he served in, and so on," the source added.
The source said that "in the ranks of the terrorists there are a lot of misfits, including from Russia, whom it is easy to convict of sending some sort of messages and call him a traitor and then make a show out of violence."
Kerry: IS Can Be Defeated In 'Months' If Ceasefire Reached
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says IS can be defeated in "months" if a ceasefire is reached between Syria's government and moderate rebels, AP reports.
It is important to secure a ceasefire and a political transition in Syria, Kerry said, speaking at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Belgrade, Serbia.
Air power won't be enough and the campaign will also require local Syrian and Arab ground forces, he added.