A Russia-Turkey summit in scheduled to take place tomorrow, December 15, in St. Petersburg has been cancelled, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been scheduled to attend the summit.
"No, it [the meeting] won't happen, it's not planned," Peskov told reporters.
Relations between Russia and Turkey have soured since Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border on November 24.
U.S.-led forces have carried out three fresh strikes in Syria and 13 strikes in Iraq, according to a statement published by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The strikes in Syria were carried out by attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and hit IS targets near Deir al-Zor, Manbij and Mar'a.
The strikes in Iraq included raids near Mosul, Sinjar and Ramadi.
Russia's Foreign Minstry has said that a planned visit to Moscow by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for tomorrow, December 15, was organized following an urgent request by the United States.
Kerry is expected to discuss the Syrian crisis with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
"We look forward to a businesslike conversation with the U.S. Secretary of State on December 15," the ministry said in a statement.
Russia's Foreign Ministry says that it is hoping to receive "clarification" from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry regarding the position of the United States on the Syrian conflict.
Kerry is expected to travel to Moscow tomorrow, December 15, for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
The United States "does not show willingness" to coordinate with Russia in the fight against the IS group, Russia's Foreign Ministry has said.
The Ministry's comments come ahead of a planned meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow tomorrow.
Paris Attacks Ringleader Directed Terrorists In Real Time By Phone: Expert
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the November 13 Paris attacks, appears to have directed the three terrorists inside the Bataclan theater in real time by phone from a few blocks away, according to French terrorism expert Jean-Charles Brisard.
At least one witness confirmed Abaaoud's presence near the Bataclan theater in Paris at the time of the attacks, Brisard reveals in the latest edition of CTC Sentinel published today.
The witness told investigators that he had been parked in a car on a dark street three short blocks from the Bataclan.
He testified that he saw Abaaoud huddled in the doorway of a residential building and shouting into a phone.
The witness left and came back to the car several times and each time Abaaoud was still there yelling into his phone. After the assault, the witness returned a final time and came across Abaaoud in full light at the end of the street and was struck by his unusual face with a long nose. The witness later remarked that Abaaoud’s head was shaved and that he was wearing layers of unusually large, loose clothing. Having seen his face, the witness immediately recognized Abaaoud days later when pictures of the terrorist emerged in the press. The presence of Abaaoud in the immediate vicinity of the attacks provides an indication of his degree of implication in the supervision and control of the plot and suggests he was giving direct orders and instructions to his team inside the Bataclan during the shootout.
Additional phone data indicates that Abaaoud had communicated with Bilal Hadfi, one of the three suicide bombers at the Stade de France, in the minutes before the attack up to the time that the first bomber blew himself up, according to Brisard.
Russia is not supplying the Free Syrian Army with weapons, Vladimir Putin's aide on military-technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin has said.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has directed more criticism over the United States' actions and policy on Syria ahead of a visit to Moscow by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tomorrow.
The Foreign Ministry says that Russia and the United States signed a memorandum on air safety over Syria but Washington has not ensured the compliance of its coalition ally,Turkey.
Russia and the United States signed the memorandum on October 20. It establishes measures to ensure that their pilots steer clear of each other to avoid risks of mid-air incidents as they conduct separate bombing campaigns in Syria.
Russia is not only defending its national interests in Syria but is also defending the interests of the whole world and of civilization, Russian presidential aide for military-technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin has said, according to RIA Novosti.
"Today we live in the reality of a large, uncontrolled chaos in the Middle East, the consequence of a series of 'color revolutions' of all shades and hues," Kozhin said.
"There is a real long term war in Syria and Russia is defending, in essence, first and foremost, not just its own national interests but world interests, the interests of civilization."
Mujahid a-Sharqi, a Syrian citizen journalist in the IS-controlled city of Deir al-Zor tells Syria Direct why he is prepared to risk his life to expose the realities of the IS group.
I don’t think IS has or will succeed in silencing us. All the journalists in IS territory know that their fate will be death if IS captures them. At the same time, we have a strong conviction that we must expose the group’s crimes.
Exposing what is happening in Deir e-Zor is worth me sacrificing my life because IS is committing its crimes against my friends and family in Deir e-Zor.