Western press on recent events in Moscow, Cizre and southeast of Iran

The New York Times today published an article titled “Russia Brings Forward Verdict in Trial of Putin Critic Navalny”

A court on Monday unexpectedly moved up the announcement of a verdict in the criminal case against one of Russia’s most prominent political opposition leaders, Aleksei A. Navalny, saying the decision would be given on Tuesday morning rather than on January 15.

The change in the hearing date suggested that the government might be seeking to hinder any response by Mr. Navalny’s supporters, who had been planning a major rally near the Kremlin for the original day of the verdict. The government had taken steps to thwart their plans, in part by asking Facebook to ban a page promoting the event.

Prosecutors have asked for a jail sentence of nine years should Mr. Navalny be convicted on charges that he and his brother, Oleg, defrauded a Russian subsidiary of the French perfume company Yves Rocher.

The case is just one of several criminal prosecutions brought in recent years against Mr. Navalny, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Moscow in 2013

The article “Russia must influence separatists to end Ukraine crisis, says Merkel” appears today in the Daily Mail. German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to the Russian government on Sunday to use its influence on separatists in eastern Ukraine to implement a ceasefire plan agreed in Minsk in September aimed at ending the conflict.

Planned talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to further the ceasefire arrangements have not yet taken place.

"(Merkel said) A stabilisation of the situation can only come if the agreed contact lines are finally implemented," said a spokeswoman in a statement.

In a phone call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko late on Saturday, Merkel expressed regret that the contact group talks had not happened. Last week, Poroshenko had said the talks would take place on December 24 and 26.

Merkel, who has been closely involved in diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis, also welcomed the exchange of prisoners between the Ukrainian government and separatists.

Another article in the Daily Mail is dedicated to Turkey and called “Turkish teenager dies amid Kurdish infighting“. A teenager was shot and killed in southeastern Turkey on Saturday in clashes between members of a Kurdish Islamist party and youths linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), security sources said.

The 15-year-old's death in the town of Cizre brought the number of people killed there in fighting between Kurdish groups to three. Two others were killed on Saturday in clashes between members of the Islamist Free Cause Party (Huda-Par) and youth groups linked to PKK.

The two groups are fierce rivals. Huda-Par draws support from sympathisers with Turkey's Hizbullah militant group, which fought the PKK in the 1990s.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu described the incidents in Cizre as provocations. "We are determined to take all measures against provocateurs who try to disrupt public order," he said.

“Three Iranian Revolutionary Guards killed near Pakistan border” is an article published by the Daily Mail. Three members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), sent to reinforce border police, were killed in an attack in the southeast of Iran near Pakistan, according to Iranian media reports on Monday.

Armed "bandits" killed the IRGC members late on Sunday near the city of Saravan in the Sistan-Baluchistan region, according to a Revolutionary Guards statement carried by Fars news agency.