Don’t forget Aleppo: Russia holds memorial service for ambassador shot dead in Turkey

Dozens attend open-casket ceremony for Andrei Karlov, killed in Ankara by man shouting ‘Don’t forget Aleppo’

Russia has staged a sombre memorial ceremony for Andrei Karlov, the ambassador to Turkey shot dead in Ankara by a man shouting “Don’t forget Aleppo” and “Allahu Akbar”.

Russia and Turkey described the assassination on Monday as a failed attempt to derail a rapprochement between Moscow and Ankara, which has seen them cooperate more closely over Syria, where they have backed different sides in the conflict.

Diplomats and family members gathered at the Russian foreign ministry, a looming Stalin-era skyscraper in central Moscow, to bid farewell to Karlov, who was 62.

Russian Lavrov and Arabian Prince Saud focus on crises in Syria and Iraq

JEDDAH - Russia and Saudi Arabia Saturday stressed the importance of preserving Syrian and Iraqi territorial integrity after talks in the Western city of Jeddah.

Riyadh and Moscow have opposing positions on the conflict in Syria, with Russia backing President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi Arabia supporting the rebels seeking to topple him for more than three years.

But Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov said they had agreed "to work together to apply the Geneva I agreement that provides for a peaceful transfer of power in Syria," a Saudi spokesman said after the meetings.

US says Russia transporting tanks into Ukrainian Separatists

The United has said the pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine received  tanks and other ammunition from Russia. The US state department said on Friday that a convoy of military vehicles, including three tanks, were transported from a Russian depot into Ukraine this week. Three T-64 tanks, multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles crossed from Russian into the Ukraine near the town of Snizhne, the state department said, describing this as "unacceptable". 

The Guardian reports that the vehicles – apparently out-of-use Russian tanks – appear to have been commandeered by Ukrainian separatist forces. Ukraine first raised concerns about the tanks crossing into its eastern region on Thursday, after several reports, including video footage uploaded to Youtube, appeared to show Russian tanks passing through Snizhne.

Ukraine Unrest: Kerry and Lavrov fail to reach a deal

United States Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, have discussed ways to defuse the Ukraine crisis during their Paris  talks in which Mr Kerry made clear Washington still considered Russian actions in Crimea "illegal and illegitimate."

Lavrov reaffirmed Russia positions and her commitment to finding a diplomatic solution in Ukraine but had not agreed to move Russian troops from the Ukraine border.

Ukraine crisis: Putin ordered troops to return to base in a news conference

Russian leader Vladamir Putin has ordered the Russian troops that took part in military exercises this week to return to base, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin spokesman as saying, according to Reuters news agency

The Russian military exercises, which Moscow denied were linked to events in Ukraine, had been a success, Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. The exercises took place across western Russia, an area which borders Ukraine.