In an article entitled, “Putin, Qatari Emir talk Syria, economic cooperation”, carried by Yahoo News and sourced from the AFP, the Emir of Qatar is quoted as saying:
“Russia plays a main role when it comes to stability in the world… We very much want to develop relations with Russia and find a solution to a number of problems related to stability in some countries of our region.”
The outlet also wrote that “The two countries also agreed to ramp up economic cooperation, with Putin telling Sheikh Tamim that Russia is keen to coordinate efforts in energy, "especially in the gas sphere." "I am hoping that all the efforts we've made over the past years to build our ties will serve a good basis for further steps," Putin said.”
While all of this was going on, US State Secretary John Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held their first meeting of the year in Zurich, dealt with preparing for the forthcoming Syrian-focused talks in Geneva.
Victor Mizin, vice president of the Center for Strategic Assessments in Moscow (studio guest); Anton Zyukov, Scholar at the Higher School of Economics, former Lecturer at Uppsala University; Marwan Kobalan, Associate Researcher at the Arab Center for research and policy studies (Doha); and Max Suchkov, Visiting Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study of Russia at New York University, shared their perspectives.
