Top stories in the Russian press on Thursday, December 10, prepared by TASS

Kommersant: Trump builds ‘Chinese wall’ for Biden

The outgoing Trump administration is taking its last steps aimed at keeping the confrontation with China in place after the power change in the White House. A new scandal is unfolding after Washington put 14 Chinese MPs on the Hong Kong sanctions list and now plans to supply a new batch of weapons to Taiwan. Beijing is threatening to retaliate with harsh countermeasures. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was confident that the changes in relations with China are irreversible and a reset is impossible, Kommersant writes.

Chief Researcher at the Institute for the United States and Canada at the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Batyuk notes that Trump’s anti-Chinese policy enjoys the support of both sides of the political aisle in Washington, while the US has managed to set up an alliance against China in the Indo-Pacific region, which plays a role of a "sanitary cordon." However, Beijing still has some levers for an opposing move, according to the expert.

The Chinese leadership has been already taking active tit-for-tat measures, such as signing a deal on November 15 in Hanoi on a comprehensive regional economic partnership aimed at creating the world’s largest free trade zone. This deal was inked by those countries, which Pompeo referred to as supporters of the US anti-Chinese course: the ASEAN states, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

According to the expert, after the collapse of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was dumped by Trump, China led the economic integration process in the Indo-Pacific Region. "Under these conditions, the new US administration will be forced to maintain dialogue with Beijing," the expert noted.

The Biden administration is already selecting a new envoy to Beijing. This could be a candidate in the 2020 election Democrat Pete Buttigieg.

Izvestia: UK, EU still disagree on Brexit as transition period nears end

Brussels and London are entering the home stretch in talks on their future relations after Britain’s exit from the European Union. Both parties have less than a month to have the Brexit deal approved by their parliaments. However, three fundamental issues still remain unsolved. A meeting between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on December 9 was the last chance to coordinate a common document, a source in Westminster told Izvestia. In the remaining days of December, the sides will discuss certain issues of the deal. The EU also admits that the talks may not end with just this meeting, the outcome of which is yet unknown. A source in the European Council said Brussels and London had not announced any official deadline. "The transition period expires on December 31, 2020. Both sides have expressed their desire to continue the talks using all opportunities. However, the time constraint is really growing," the source noted.

Although the sides agreed on the Northern Ireland issue (the EU representatives will be able to be present there during the checks of goods), the fate of the deal still remains uncertain. The sides failed to agree on three points: quotas on fishing in British waters, uniform rules of the game (a level playing field for British and EU companies), and methods of dispute settlement. According to the British media, 95% of the deal has been concurred on.

The source in Westminster has described the talks "as two steps forward, one and a half back." Given that little time is left, the tightening of position at the last minute makes the final stage of talks extremely challenging. Both parties are ready to make pragmatic compromises, but it’s impossible to sacrifice the UK’s fundamental principles: one of these pillars is the country’s sovereignty over its coastal waters within the internationally recognized borders up to 12 nautical miles, the source said. The British side clarified these principles at the early stage of talks and so far, they have been unchanged.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Iran vows to return Golan Heights to Syria

The visit of new Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad to Iran, his first official trip abroad, showed Damascus’ foreign policy priorities. Tehran promised the top diplomat that Syria’s government would receive all the necessary assistance until the moment when all territories return under its control, including the Golan Heights held by Israel. Experts are certain that the Iranian forces are striving to maintain their presence in the south of the Arab republic, even if this runs counter to Russia’s stance, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.

"Iran will be always on the Syrian government’s side politically, and in this respect, it believes the Astana process is useful for protecting Syrian interests and its territorial integrity," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said. In light of this, he hoped that the Syrian presidential election, scheduled for next year, will be held without any problems. According to him, this is a chance for Syrians to "express their views and ideas." Rouhani’s statement regarding the Golan Heights definitely raised eyebrows in Israel. Lately, this area that was captured from Syria in 1967 is becoming a source of problems.

Kirill Semenov, an expert with the Russian International Affairs Council, noted that the Mekdad’s visit to Iran demonstrated who is really the key ally of Damascus. Besides, the Syrian leadership showed that in the future it plans to remain part of the Iranian "axis of resistance." "Hardly any changes should be expected in this approach and Iran will hardly review its relations with the Syrian Arab Republic," the analyst said. According to Semenov, Iran will prefer to keep its military presence in Syria, including near Israeli borders.

Meanwhile, this poses a threat to Russia, which gave its commitment to Israel to ensure Iranian forces’ withdrawal from the border. However, an effort to drive Iranian forces away failed, the paper writes.

Kommersant: Moscow seeks to prevent new Turkish operation in northern Syria

Russia is taking steps to prevent a new Turkish offensive against Kurdish militias in northern Syria. According to Arab media reports, the Russian military hopes to convince the Syrian Democratic Forces to hand over some areas under their control to Damascus, while Ankara is strengthening its positions on Syrian soil, Kommersant writes.

In October 2019, the Russian and Turkish presidents established new "zones of influence" in northeastern Syria. The Russian-Turkish deal prevented Turkey’s third military operation in northern Syria against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), part of the SDF, which Turkey brands as terrorists. Under the Sochi memorandum of understanding, the YPG had to withdraw their forces 30 km from the border with Turkey. Moscow and Ankara also agreed on joint patrols of the area up to 10 km from the border. Despite the fact that just a week after the memorandum, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu affirmed the YPG forces’ withdrawal from the border, Turkey still thinks that the agreement with Russia has not been fulfilled.

According to Arab media, the Kurds are trying to secure support of both Washington and Moscow. However, Russia has warned the Kurdish forces several times that it could guarantee their protection only on condition of handing over their territory to Damascus’ control.

"Moscow seeks to prevent tensions with Ankara," said Kirill Semenov, an expert with the Russian International Affairs Council. "Until Turkey thinks that all commitments under the 2019 memorandum are implemented, it won’t consider that it obligatory to fulfill the agreements with Moscow on Idlib reached in March. Besides, it’s harder for Russia to prevent an offensive by Turkey and the opposition forces loyal to it in northern Syria than for Ankara to stop a potential retaliation by the Syrian army with Moscow’s support in Idlib, he said.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: ‘Political time bomb’ ticking over Nord Stream 2 pipeline project

Ukraine’s energy giant Naftogaz is celebrating the expanded sanctions against Nord Stream 2, approved by the US House of Representatives, labeling them as "a bomb" that should blow up Gazprom’s plans to build the pipeline. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry is sure that the pipeline will be constructed. German entrepreneurs interviewed by the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce and the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, announced that this project was an important contribution to meeting Europe’s energy demands. Over the past year, the share of German companies, which believe that Russian-German relations deteriorated, has grown ten-fold and this is a critical level, Nezavisimaya Gazeta says.

According to Rainer Seele, President of the Russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade and CEO of Austria’s OMV, which is investing in the project, Europe must not let the US patronize itself on energy policy issues. Chairman of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations Oliver Hermes hoped that the Biden administration would recognize the entire scale of damage that will be dealt to Transatlantic ties and democracy in Europe.

"Germany remains one of Russia’s major economic partners and therefore German businesses will probably try to further build economic relations despite political problems and call for cancelling sanctions," said Olga Belenkaya from Finam. "However, certainly, if there is a greater deterioration in foreign policy ties between Europe and Russia or if Europe and the US take a more consolidated position on foreign policy, this could become even harder."