• 9:10 am: Bashar Al-Assad meets Valdimir Putin in Moscow

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, according to a message from the Syrian Presidency posted on Twitter.

Bashar Al-Assad is to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on "topical issues concerning the development of Russian-Syrian cooperation in the political, economic, commercial and humanitarian spheres", according to a press release from the presidency. Russian.

  • 8:20 a.m .: Russian ambassador to the United States calls on Washington to stop “hostile” flights

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov on Wednesday (March 15) called on Washington to stop "hostile" flights near Russian borders, after an American drone intercepted by Russian fighters crashed the day before in the Black Sea .

“We assume that the United States will refrain from further speculation in the media space and cease flights near Russian borders,” he said in a statement on Telegram.

"We consider any action with the use of American armaments as openly hostile," he said.

"Russia does not seek confrontation and stands for pragmatic cooperation in the interests of the peoples of our countries," he said.

  • 6:02 am: Washington accuses Moscow of having caused the fall of an American drone in the Black Sea

Tensions remain high between Washington and Moscow after an aerial incident, the United States accusing the Russian air force of having "intercepted and rammed" an American Reaper drone over the Black Sea and caused it to fall, which Russia denies.

"Our MQ-9 drone was performing routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and rammed by a Russian aircraft, resulting in the crash and loss of the MQ-9," said General James Hecker, commander of the American air forces in Europe, confirming information revealed earlier by AFP on an incident involving a Reaper in the Black Sea.

He said that before one of the Russian Su-27 fighters collided with the propeller-damaging drone, they had dumped fuel and flown over the aircraft several times.

With AFP and Reuters

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