WATCH: Latvia-Russia Ties Shaped by Soviet History, Marred by Politics
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Russian President Vladimir Putin wished French far-right leader Marine Le Pen “good luck” for next month’s presidential election, a close aide to the National Front candidate said after the two met in the Kremlin on Friday.

“He wished her good luck for the presidential election,” Ludovic de Danne, who took part in the meeting, told Reuters from Moscow.

“We felt they understood each other, they were on the same wave length,” he said in a phone interview.

The meeting lasted about an hour and a half, and focused mostly on international affairs including the fight against terrorism and very little on the French election, de Danne said.

De Danne, who advises Le Pen on international affairs for her presidential bid, added that the pair did not discuss the financing of Le Pen’s campaign.

Last week, Le Pen’s party mocked centrist candidate and favorite Emmanuel Macron for traveling to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela by Merkel. “Mr. Macron is in a competition with Mr. Fillon to be Mrs. Merkel’s top vassal,” said Florian Philippot, Le Pen’s deputy, at the time.

Asked how the Putin-Le Pen meeting was different from the Macron-Merkel one, de Danne said: “Macron-Merkel it’s the declining establishment, Le Pen and Putin represent the freedom of the people, cooperation in a multi-polar world.”
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday warned Western nations against destabilizing the political situation in Macedonia.

His comments to a Moscow news conference came less than two days after the European Union’s enlargement commissioner, Johannes Hahn, visited Skopje in another bid to help break a political deadlock that has left the country’s parties unable to form a government since an election in December.

The crisis has sparked inter-ethnic tension, as three ethnic Albanian parties push for Albanian to be designated a second official language as a condition to joining any coalition government. That has led to daily protests for three weeks.

“The current situation in Macedonia — I’d even call it a crisis, in many respects provoked artificially — is leading to the situation when attempts are made to split the society,” Lavrov said, adding the West should realize “the danger of such attempts.”

He also said he found it perplexing that Russia’s activities in the Balkans were considered provocative. Russian relations with Balkan nations shouldn’t be a cause for concern in the West, he said.

Official: West should be concerned

In an apparent rebuke, Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki told VOA that the West should be very concerned.

“We can perfectly imagine that a global power like Russia would have interests pretty much everywhere around the world,” he told VOA’s Macedonian service after spending a day meeting with U.S. legislators in Washington.

“What really matters is what would be in the interest of the countries in the region,” he added. “Regarding Macedonia, we are clear that EU and NATO membership are our priority. And we would like to achieve these objectives because we believe that this is the best recipe for peace, stability and economic prosperity in our region. We remain committed to these goals.”

European Union leaders and analysts have said the mounting political confrontation in Macedonia could spin out of control, adding to increasing ethnic tensions across a destabilizing Balkans.

Clear message urged

Last week, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic warned of serious consequences if the European Union does not give western Balkan countries a clear message about joining the bloc, citing growing nationalism and pro-Russian sympathies in the region.

On Wednesday, Serbian Defense Minister Zoran Djordjevic called for joint Serbian-U.S. military exercises.

On Monday, Montenegro’s Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanovic said U.S.-led NATO allies have been supportive of an investigation into what Montenegrin prosecutors are calling a pro-Russian plot to overthrow the country’s pro-Western government to prevent it from joining the European military alliance.

US Senate’s approval needed

Montenegro’s bid to join NATO is awaiting approval from the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that Montenegro’s accession to NATO would create a contiguous border along the Adriatic coast.

“Since Montenegro borders five other Balkan nations, including NATO allies Croatia and Albania, its NATO membership will support greater integration, democratic reform, trade, security and stability with all of its neighbors,” he said.

The Montenegrin, Serbian and Macedonian ministers were in Washington for a State Department conference of the global coalition to defeat Islamic State.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Macedonian and Serbian services. Some information is from AP.
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London police on Thursday identified the attacker who killed four people near Parliament as Khalid Masood, a Briton who converted to Islam and had a lengthy criminal record for weapons possession and other charges.

Islamic State said Masood, 52, was a “soldier” of the extremist group who responded to its call to attack civilians and the military in countries allied with the United States in battling IS.

Masood had never been convicted of terrorist offenses, but British security officials said he had been investigated in the past “in relation to concerns about violent extremism.” Authorities said they thought he was acting alone Wednesday when he ran down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, a Thames River crossing leading to the Houses of Parliament, crashed his rented vehicle into a gate and fatally stabbed a policeman who tried to stop him.

Armed police shot and killed Masood moments later.

Raids across nation

In the hours after the attack, police conducted raids around the country in search of anyone who might have given support to Masood. Eight men and women were arrested Thursday on suspicion of planning terrorist acts.

The dead assailant, who was older than most Islamist attackers involved in recent spectacular terror attacks in Europe, had been a teacher of English and was known as a fanatical bodybuilder.

One of the civilians who was run down on the bridge, a 75-year-old man, died Thursday in a hospital, raising the casualty toll to four victims and Masood.

Although IS claimed responsibility for the attack, a statement posted online did not implicate the group in the planning or execution of the attack.

An Italian tourist who witnessed the carnage told reporters he saw Masood attack the policeman with two knives. “He gave [the officer] around 10 stabs in the back,” the visitor said.

Valiant efforts to resuscitate Constable Keith Palmer at the scene failed. The 48-year-old officer was a 15-year police veteran.

One American was among the dead: Kurt Cochran, 54, of Utah, who was in London with his wife to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. His wife, Melissa, was among the 30 people injured. Masood’s vehicle hit the Cochrans as they crossed Westminster Bridge.

The remaining victim of the attack was a British school administrator, Aysha Frade, 43.

London vigil

Mourners gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square on Thursday evening, about one kilometer from the crime scene, for a candlelight vigil. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, told the crowd of thousands that “those trying to destroy our shared way of life will never succeed.”

Khan said the vigil in the most recognizable public plaza in London was meant to honor the dead and injured, but also “to send a clear, clear message: Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism.”

Mark Rowley, head of counterterrorism efforts for London’s Metropolitan Police Service, said the eight people arrested Thursday were picked up during searches at six separate locations, and that investigations were continuing in London, Birmingham and other parts of England. He declined to say whether or how those detained were involved in Wednesday’s attack.

“It is still our belief, which continues to be borne out by our investigation, that this attacker acted alone and was inspired by international terrorism,” Rowley told reporters.  

WATCH: British PM May Condemns Terror Attack on Parliament

Prime Minister Theresa May struck a defiant tone in discussing the attack Thursday before Parliament, telling British lawmakers that what London experienced was “an attack on free people everywhere.”

“Yesterday, an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy, but today, we meet as normal, as generations have done before us and as future generations will continue to do, to deliver a simple message: We are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism,” she said.

Victims’ homelands

May thanked Britain’s friends and allies around the world “who have made it clear that they stand with us at this time.” She said the victims included nationals of France, Romania, South Korea, Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and Greece, as well as the United States.

The U.N. Security Council in New York, chaired by British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, observed a moment of silence Thursday for the London victims.

“You may know that today there are victims in London from 11 nations, which goes to show that an attack on London is an attack on the world,” Johnson said. “I can tell you from my talks here in the United States with the U.S. government and with partners from around the world that the world is uniting to defeat the people who launched this attack and defeat their bankrupt and odious ideology.”

In London, Parliament’s session began with a minute of silence Thursday. Police officers stood in silence nearby outside the headquarters of the city’s Metropolitan Police.
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The Turkish foreign ministry says it has summoned Russia’s top diplomat in Turkey over the killing of one of its soldiers that has been blamed on a Syrian Kurdish group that Moscow is supporting. The dispute is putting increasing strain on rapprochement efforts between the countries.

The Russian charge d’affaires was summoned Thursday by the Turkish foreign ministry and warned that Turkey will retaliate against a Syrian Kurdish group if there is a repeat of Wednesday’s cross-border attack. The Turkish military claims that a sniper of the the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia, killed one of its soldiers.

Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu said in his weekly press briefing that Moscow was responsible for preventing such instances as its forces are deployed in the Kurdish-controlled Afrin region to monitor and prevent such occurrences.

“Steps that should be taken in order to prevent similar cases in the future” and a reprisal would be aimed at the Syrian Kurdish group if such an attack was repeated, said Muftuoglu.

Russian troops sent to Afrin

The Turkish army regularly shells Afrin, accusing the YPG and its political wing the PYD, of being terrorists, affiliated with the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish state. But Moscow has been courting the Syrian Kurdish groups.

This week, Russian forces were deployed in Afrin, despite protests by Ankara. The deepening dispute is casting a shadow over efforts to foster reconciliation between Ankara and Moscow, following a collapse in relations in 2015 after Turkish jets downed a Russian bomber operating from a Syrian airbase.

Former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served widely in the region, says the latest dispute over Afrin reveals the limitations of rapprochement efforts.

“Ankara is quite active in promoting the positive progress in relations.” Selcen said. “But practically speaking, there is no progress. In fact, we can even speak of deterioration with what we can see in Afrin.”

Peace talks set for Geneva

Turkish displeasure reportedly also was expressed to Russia’s charge d’affaires over pictures of senior Russian officers in Afrin wearing YPG insignias on their uniforms. Moscow’s deepening relations with the Syrian Kurds are causing growing unease in Ankara. Foreign ministry spokesman Muftuoglu also called on Moscow to close the political offices of the PYD in the Russian capital.

Ties could be further strained with Moscow lobbying for the inclusion of the PYD at next week’s U.N.-sponsored Syrian peace talks in Geneva. Ankara has been at the forefront of trying to block their participation, asserting that the PYD is a terrorist organization.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that it is very important to overcome Turkey’s resistance and include the Syrian Kurds in upcoming talks.
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