"Checkmate," reads the headline in today's Millet newspaper, which is supportive of Turkish President Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), referring to a preliminary agreement Turkey has signed with Qatar for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
The move followed economic sanctions on Turkey by Russia after the downing of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Turkish border last week. Turkey is the biggest importer of Russian natural gas.
Russia has said that talks with Turkey on the Turkish Stream pipeline project have been suspended, AFP is reporting.
The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has said that there is "confirmed information" that the Russian national beheaded by the IS group was a Chechen, RIA Novosti is reporting.
Here's a video from RFE/RL's Afghan Service on an ex-Gitmo inmate who is now leading the fight against Islamic State in Afghanistan:
Haji Ghalib spent four years as a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, but is now leading the fight against Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan. His best friend from his time in U.S. custody is now his deadliest enemy. (RFE/RL's Afghan Service)
Turkish Stream Negotiations Suspended, Russia Says
TASS quotes Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak as saying that "negotations have been suspended" over the Turkish Stream pipeline project.
Novak's announcement comes after Russia suspended on December 1 the activities of the joint Russian-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Earlier today, the head of Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, told reporters that if Turkey needed the Turkish Stream project, it should "apply to Russia."
"Right now Turkey has not come to us with such a proposal," Miller said.
Turkish President Erdogan has criticized as "immoral" Russia's claims that his family are involved in IS oil trade, AFP reports.
The UK is to send another eight war planes to carry out air strikes against IS targets in Syria, Britain's Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has told the BBC.
The jets will be sent to the RAF Akrotiri air base on Cyprus.
So to summarize this morning's events:
-- Russian President Putin has accused Turkey of supporting terrorism and has said Ankara should expect more sanctions for shooting down its Su-24 jet.
-- Russia has announced that negotiations over the Turkish Stream pipeline have been suspended.
-- Turkey's Foreign Minister Davutoglu has said Russia's accusations that Ankara is involved in IS oil trade are "Soviet."
-- Turkish President Erdogan has slammed as "immoral" Russia's claims that his family are involved in IS oil trading.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart later today.
Kerry: IS Can Be Defeated In 'Months' If Ceasefire Reached
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says IS can be defeated in "months" if a ceasefire is reached between Syria's government and moderate rebels, AP reports.
It is important to secure a ceasefire and a political transition in Syria, Kerry said, speaking at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Belgrade, Serbia.
Air power won't be enough and the campaign will also require local Syrian and Arab ground forces, he added.
Russian intelligence services have denied that Magomed Khaziev, the Russian national beheaded by IS, worked for them, an FSB source has told Interfax.
"Most likely, the executed man had no relationship with our intelligence services. This is indicated by a number of factors," the source said.
The source said that if the IS militants really had found a spy in their midst, "they would definitely have used him in a negotiations process that would have brought much more benefit to the terrorists than simply killing him."
The FSB source did not elaborate on what the IS militants might have negotiated for.
"Apart from that, according to the existing practice, the bandits would have had to have given even a primitive sort of evidence of their suspicions, for example, a confession by the spy, a report of his intelligence, the intelligence of his leaders, the division he served in, and so on," the source added.
The source said that "in the ranks of the terrorists there are a lot of misfits, including from Russia, whom it is easy to convict of sending some sort of messages and call him a traitor and then make a show out of violence."