Eurasia News

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has resigned, U.S. officials said on Nov. 25, ending nearly two years in the Pentagon’s top job after a bruising mid-term election that undermined President Barack Obama’s Democrats in Congress. Hagel, who had struggled to improve his ties with Congress after a contentious 2013 confirmation hearing, …

Some 230 Peshmerga forces of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have been trained by Turkish soldiers so far in northern Iraq, a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official said. Turkey has been providing “subsidiary” military training for the Peshmerga forces and the process will continue for as long as necessary, according to …

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will start a European tour on Monday, with Italy as his first destination, followed by the Vatican and France. In Italy, El-Sisi has a packed schedule, according to presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef.

The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Thursday started a trip to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to underline the 28-member Alliance’s support to the three Baltic states. According to a NATO statement, he began his visit today with a visit to Estonia’s Amari Airbase where he said “NATO’s greatest responsibility is …

Russia continues to have “postured, ready and capable battalion tactical groups” along the border with Ukraine, particularly in the southeast between Ukraine and western Russia, Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon spokesman, said on Thursday. “These units have remained ready,” Kirby said during a briefing. “They have remained close, in some …

US Vice-President Joe Biden landed in Ukraine today, US diplomats in Kiev said, ahead of talks with the country’s president and prime minister over possible increased assistance amid conflict in the east. Biden will meet President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk tomorrow, the one-year anniversary of the Maidan …

President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan left Thursday Algiers after a two-day official visit to Algeria, at the invitation of President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

NATO said Thursday there have been around 400 intercepts of Russian military flights near its member countries this year, amid heightened tension between Moscow and the West over the Ukraine crisis. “If you look at the number of intercepts around NATO, we can talk about 400 intercepts, 50 percent more …

Two French jets, backed by US-led coalition planes, have targeted ISIL trenches near Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk as operations continue against the terrorist group’s frontlines. Two Dassault-built (AVMD.PA) Rafale fighters hit trenches, used by ISIL militants to capture the northern Iraqi oil city, at around 0330 GMT, French Defense Ministry …

Turkey and Iraq have reinforced their pledge to mend ties during the Turkish prime minister’s visit to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, agreeing on closer cooperation against Islamist jihadists’ threat and revive economic ties with a greater momentum than before. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s visit to the country, a …