Russia decries 'new Cold War'; East-West tensions cloud talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry told the Munich Security Conference that "the vast majority of Russia's attacks (in Syria) have been against legitimate opposition groups."

"To adhere to the agreement it made, Russia's targeting must change," he said, referring to the international deal forged yesterday, in which 17 countries agreed to seek a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria within a week.

"This is the moment. This is a hinge point. Decisions made in the coming days and weeks, and a few months could end the war in Syria -- or could define a very difficult set of choices for the future."

He spoke shortly after Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the world had "slid into a new period of Cold War."

"Almost every day we are accused of making new horrible threats either against NATO as a whole, against Europe or against the US or other countries," Medvedev said.

His foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, hit back at Kerry's comments, saying the new deal on Syria could not only focus on Russia's role.

"The fact that the discussions on the truce are beginning to go towards prioritising putting a stop to the actions of the Russian air force creates in me suspicions, gives reasons for sad thoughts, about how our Munich adventure will end," said Lavrov.

Meanwhile, a panel of eastern European leaders lined up to add their own accusations of Russian aggression.

"Every single day, Russian troops, Russian weapons, Russian ammunition penetrate into my country," said Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko.

He addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was not present, saying: "Mr Putin, this is not a civil war in Ukraine, this is your aggression. This is not a civil war in Crimea, this is your soldiers who occupied my country."

Kerry emphasised that sanctions on Russia would remain in place until it implemented all aspects of the Ukraine peace agreement reached in Belarus' capital Minsk last year.

"Russia has a simple choice: fully implement Minsk or continue to face economically damaging sanctions," he said.

An emotional Poroshenko also warned that "pro-Russian parties" were undermining Europe from within with an alternative set of values.

"Isolationism, intolerance, disrespect of human rights, religious fanatics, homophobia -- this alternative Europe has a leader. His name is Mr Putin."

By contrast, Medvedev had earlier criticised the expansion of NATO and EU influence deep into formerly Soviet-ruled eastern Europe, which Russia sees as its sphere of influence. 

World has slipped into new Cold War: Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev

With tensions high over the Ukraine conflict and Russia`s backing of the Syrian regime, Medvedev said: "All that`s left is an unfriendly policy of NATO against Russia".

"We can say it even more clearly: We have slid into a new period of Cold War," he said, speaking at the Munich Security Conference.

"Almost every day we are accused of making new horrible threats either against NATO as a whole, against Europe or against the US or other countries."

Medvedev criticised the expansion of NATO and EU influence deep into formerly Soviet-ruled eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War.

"European politicians thought that creating a so-called belt of friends at Europe`s side, on the outskirts of the EU, could be a guarantee of security, and what`s the result?" he said.

"Not a belt of friends but a belt of exclusion."

He added that "creating trust is hard ... but we have to start. Our positions differ, but they do not differ as much as 40 years ago when a wall was standing in Europe."

Major powers agree to plan for 'cessation of hostilities' in Syria

Following a marathon meeting in Munich aimed at resurrecting peace talks that collapsed last week, the powers, including the United States, Russia and more than a dozen other nations, reaffirmed their commitment to a political transition when conditions on the ground improved.

At a news conference, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the Munich meeting produced commitments on paper only.

"What we need to see in the next few days are actions on the ground, in the field," he said, adding that "without a political transition, it is not possible to achieve peace."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the news conference that Russia would not stop air attacks in Syria, saying the cessation of hostilities did not apply to Islamic State and al Nusrah, which is affiliated with al Qaeda. Islamic State militants control large parts of Syria and Iraq

"Our airspace forces will continue working against these organizations," he said.

The United States and European allies say few Russian strikes have targeted those groups, with the vast majority hitting Western-backed opposition groups seeking to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad government.

Lavrov said peace talks should resume in Geneva as soon as possible and that all Syrian opposition groups should participate. He added that halting hostilities would be a difficult task.

But British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said ending fighting could only succeed if Russia stopped air strikes supporting Syrian government forces` advance against the opposition.

Diplomats cautioned that Russia had until now not demonstrated any interest in seeing Assad replaced and was pushing for a military victory.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday raised the spectre of an interminable conflict or even a world war if powers failed to negotiate an end to five years of fighting in Syria, which has killed 250,000 people, caused a refugee crisis and empowered Islamic State militants.

OPPOSITION GROUP CAUTIOUS

Syria`s main opposition group welcomed the plan by the world powers on Friday.

It cautioned, however, that the agreement must prove to be effective before it joins political talks with government representatives in Geneva.

Russia`s intervention on the battlefield on behalf of Assad since last October has swung the momentum in the fight between the government and opposition forces. The latest advance over the past two weeks has seen government forces and allies rout rebels and come close to encircling Aleppo, a divided city half held by rebels for years.

The first peace talks in two years between belligerents in Syria fell apart last week before they began in the face of the advance by Assad`s forces.

A senior French diplomat said: "The Russians said they will continue bombing the terrorists. They are taking a political risk because they are accepting a negotiation in which they are committing to a cessation of hostilities. If in a week there is no change because of their bombing, then they will bear the responsibility."

Washington is leading its own air campaign against Islamic State militants in eastern Syria and northern Iraq, but has resisted calls to intervene in the main battlefields of Syria`s civil war in the west of the country, where the government is mostly fighting against other insurgent groups.

The communique of the plan reached in Munich said the powers had established a ceasefire task force, under the auspices of the United Nations, co-chaired by Russia and the United States, and including members having government and opposition groups.

The communique added that sustained humanitarian aid would begin this week to various besieged areas of Syria.

"Humanitarian access to these most urgent areas will be a first step toward full, sustained, and unimpeded access throughout the country," the joint communique added.

The Assad government for years has repeatedly promised humanitarian access but has rarely lived up to its promises. Western-backed rebels have also been accused of that.

Russian plane crash: Jet split into two midair

Investigators had recovered the plane's black box and the government said its contents were being analysed to determine the cause of the incident.

The Russian Airbus that crashed killing all the 224 people aboard in Egypt on Saturday broke apart “in the air”, senior official with Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee said Sunday.

“The disintegration happened in the air and the fragments are strewn over a large area,” committee chief Viktor Sorochenko was quoted as saying by RIA-Novosti news agency in Cairo, where he is part of an international panel of experts from Russia, Egypt, France and Ireland.

Meanwhile, the black boxes of the ill-fated plane were recovered and sent for analysis amid claims by an IS-affiliate group that it downed the jet. The group in Egypt, which is waging a deadly insurgency in the Sinai, claimed it downed the plane in the mountainous area of the Sinai Peninsula but both Cairo and Moscow rejected the claim.

Egyptian PM Sharif Ismail said experts had confirmed that the militants could not down a plane at the 30,000 feet while Russian transport minister Maxim Sokolov said the claim “cannot be considered accurate”.