Europe

SOCHI (Russia), Feb 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Representatives from Russia, Turkey and Iran ended a two-day meeting on ways to re-invigorate stalled talks on a new constitution for Syria by calling for a stop to foreign interference.

In a joint declaration, the representatives meeting in the Russian resort city of Sochi called on Israel, Iran’s arch-rival, to stop its attacks in Syria, which they said were a threat to regional security and stability and a violation of international law.

18 Feb 2021; MEMO: NATO defense ministers decided on Thursday to send as much as 3,500 additional troops to Iraq, Anadolu Agency reported.

"We will expand the NATO training mission in Iraq to ensure that ISIS (Daesh) doesn't return," the alliance's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced at a press conference.

The number of NATO personnel will be increased from the current 500 to 4,000 in the country, the NATO chief said after the virtual meeting's second day.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday he hoped the United States and European Union would not impose fresh sanctions on Russia.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to name as early as Friday the companies it believes are helping build Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, five sources said, a move that could prompt sanctions on the nearly completed project.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Protests over the imprisonment of a rapper convicted of insulting the Spanish monarchy and praising terrorist violence were marred by rioting for the third night in a row Thursday.

The plight of Pablo Hasél, who began this week to serve a 9-month sentence in a northeastern prison, has triggered a heated debate over the limits of free speech in Spain and a political storm over the use of violence by both the rapper’s supporters and the police.

SOCHI, February 18. /TASS/: UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen plans to travel to Damascus on February 21 to hold consultations on the work of the Constitutional Committee, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev said in an interview with TASS.

"Mr. Pedersen will fly to Damascus on Sunday, where he will hold intense consultations," he said.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: Former head of Belgazprombank Viktor Babariko’s trial is Belarus’ domestic affair and Russia has no plans to interfere in it, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"It’s a Belarusian domestic affair," he pointed out. "It is a situation where we are not going to interfere in Belarus’ internal judicial affairs in any way," Peskov added.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: Russia has no plans to boycott the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: International clinical trials of the Sputnik Light single-dose vaccine have begun in the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: The decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Alexey Navalny is an unacceptable attempt to interfere in Russia’s domestic judicial affairs, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"The decision is unlawful, it is a very serious attempt to interfere in Russia’s domestic judicial affairs, which, in our opinion, is unacceptable," the spokesman told reporters on Thursday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union put reform of the World Trade Organization at the heart of its trade strategy for the next decade on Thursday, saying global rules on commerce must be greener, take more account of state subsidies and be enforced.

The 27-nation bloc’s executive body also said it would seek to work with President Joe Biden’s U.S. administration to address a crisis of confidence in the WTO, where settlement of trade conflicts and negotiations are deadlocked.