On February 9, the Russian President’s Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met with Abdulhamid Darwish, Secretary General of the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria (KDPP).

Two Meridian passenger trains collided head-on near the town of Bad Aibling in Bavaria, Germany. One train reportedly derailed as a result of the collision. Police said on Tuesday that 10 people were dead, 17 were critically injured and one person was missing after a collision.

RT informs that Moscow provided the Netherlands with radar and other data on the MH17 crash but it has all been ignored, a Russian aviation official said, responding to the relatives of Dutch victims who recently wrote to President Vladimir Putin.

On Friday, Ban-Ki Moon, UN Secretary General, told the Financial Times newspaper that devastating Russian air raids in Syria last week made it harder for UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to mediate talks between Damascus and opposition that were underway in Geneva.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday that it had detained seven people suspected of being members of the Islamic State that was planning large-scale terrorist acts in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Urals. The gunmen were preparing to carry out "high-profile terrorist attacks using self-made explosive devices," the FSB said.

The GBP/USD pair fell a bit during the course of the session on Friday, February 5, but did get back some of the losses by the time we closed, FX Empire reports.

UN and Turkish officials declare that about 20.000 Syrian refugees fleeing fighting in northern Aleppo province have gathered at a border crossing with Turkey. The deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Farhan Haq told reporters the thousands of people are mainly from the Aleppo sub-districts of Tel Rifaat, Hariyatan and Azaz.

Pope Francis will hold a historic first meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in Cuba next week.

Putting blame for the breakdown of the intra-Syrian talks on Russia is a manifestation of bad taste, Russian Permanent Representative to United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on February 5, TASS reports.

A United Nations panel has found that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s refuge inside Ecuador’s embassy in London amounts to arbitrary detention, Swedish authorities said on Thursday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that the developments on the Turkish-Syrian border suggested Turkey’s intensive preparations for military intrusion into Syria. According to Reuters, it is caused by Syrian army source's statement that Aleppo would soon be encircled by government forces that are advancing with Russian air support.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the initiative of the US side on February 4. Mr Lavrov and Mr Kerry discussed the current status of the Syrian peace settlement in great detail,Information and Press Department reports.