Comment: See also: Putin takes icy dip to commemorate baptism of Christ, later attends memorial for siege of Leningrad where brother was killed (VIDEO)

Putin has been responsible for overseeing the greatest restoration of Russia's holy sites and churches in a century:

• Vladimir Putin: A decent man leading a reformed, renewed country
• Putin visits Mount Athos, Greece, for second time

Comment: A government will have to be formed sooner or later but what this points to is a growing split amongst the German population and their governments policies, something we're also seeing in other EU countries like the UK, one of the main issues is the influx of refugees which is a direct result of Merkels 'open-door' policy and the West's illegal wars abroad:

• German town's 'pro-refugee' mayor calls moratorium amidst Merkels struggle to form coalition
• German study: Rise in violent crime due to migrants but not refugees, and higher incidence in reporting
• 'Margaret Thatcher is my role model': German far-right AfD leader Alice Weidel
• Austria's coalition with far right party to take back control from Brussels and resist EU centralisation
• Soros Predicts EU Collapse, Preemptively Blames Russia

Comment: See also:

• Online gold sales skyrocket 400% as cryptocurrency market sees huge sell-off
• Regulator crackdown continues, Bitcoin crashes to 6-week low - China may ban the cryptocurrency
• Bitcoin: Is it nothing but monkey business?

Comment: See also:

• Turkey begins cross-border shelling of Syrian Kurds in Afrin: Turkish army attempts to enter Syrian province, Kurds repel attack - UPDATE
• Erdogan officially announces that Turkish military op against Afrin Kurds underway

Update: Turkish tanks and military personnel have entered Syrian territory amid preparations for the ground operation in Syrian northern district of Afrin, the Yeni Safak newspaper reported on Sunday.

According to the newspaper, the Turkish tanks and troops started to enter Syrian territory from the Oncupinar border gate at 19:00 GMT and the passage continued until the early hours of Sunday morning.

Later on, NTV broadcaster said, citing a military source, that Turkish tanks entered Afrin, supporting the oppositional Free Syrian Army (FSA) in their operation against Kurdish militia.

According to the broadcaster, the Turkish military is not facing serious resistance from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which is abandoning positions at Syrian-Turkish borders and retreating deeper into the Syrian territory.

However, a spokesman for the YPG in Afrin denied Turkish claims that its forces had entered the district.

Update: Kurdish YPG blames Russia for Turkish attack on Afrin

On January 20, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) announced in an official statement that seven civilians were killed and twelve others were injured in Turkish strikes on the area of Afrin in northern Aleppo. The YPG also revealed that Turkish airstrikes killed three of its fighters.

In its statement, the YPG surprisingly accused Russia of giving Turkey a "permission" to conduct its military operation in Afrin and said that Russia will be responsible for any massacre in Afrin. On the other hand, the US-backed Kurdish force ignored the silence of its main ally, the US and didn't mention it in its statement.

"We know that, without the permission of global forces and mainly Russia, whose troops located in Afrin, Turkey cannot attack civilians using Afrin air space. Therefore, we hold Russia as responsible as Turkey and stress that Russia is the crime partner of Turkey in massacring the civilians in the region," the YPG said in the statement.

Update: Damascus "resolutely condemns" Turkey's invasion of Afrin, and denies that Ankara informed them of the operation beforehand. Assad said today that the military operation is just part of Ankara's strategy to support terrorists in Syria. Yildirim said 108 of 113 designated targets were destroyed in the Turks' airstrikes prior to today's land incursion. Kurds in Afrin say 10 residents were injured in the airstrikes. Another report says at least 9 were killed (3 fighters, 6 civilians). Video footage shows some lightly wounded people in hospital.

The Turks say they will pay "every kind of attention and sensitivity" to avoid harming civilians, and will leave once their military objectives are complete:

"The operation is not against our Turkmen, Kurdish or Arab brothers living there [in Afrin], but against the terrorist groups. It has been launched with a respect for Syria's territorial integrity, sovereignty and political unity, and will be carried out taking these principles into account. After the operation reaches the assigned tasks, Turkey will leave Afrin," Bozdag said, as quoted by Ihlas News Agency.

Meanwhile, Syria fired three rockets early on Sunday targeting the Turkish border province of Kilis and lightly injuring one person, media reported citing local governor. According to Anadolu news agency, the rockets hit several locations in the provincial capital of Kilis and damaged some buildings in the area.

Rocket fire from Afrin into Turkey reportedly killed one and injured 32 (more social media reporting here).

Yildirim also said that everyone (including Americans) who supports the Afrin Kurds will be targets of the Turkish Air Force, and that the Turks will create a 30-km buffer zone along the border. The first of four phases of the operation is aimed at forming a secure zone of the borders between Azaz and Afrin. He added:

"We are communicating with the Syrian government through Moscow's mediation. The Free Syrian Army together with our units has entered Afrin. Russia has no objections regarding the operation. Iran's concerns are now being settled," Yildirim was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

Both Iran and Egypt called on Turkey to end the operation immediately "to prevent a deepening of the crisis".

Erdogan vowed to complete the operation "in a very short time". The Turks report having hit 153 targets, including positions of ISIS, PKK, KCK, PYD, and YPG (all considered terrorist groups by Ankara). Erdogan says they will force the terrorists out of Afrin and pursue them. He added:

"Do not assault our frontiers, do not provoke us. Otherwise, we'll not have enough patience. I said this to the respected [former US President Barack] Obama. It is a pity that I did not receive an answer. We said: "We'll come unexpectedly at night." We waited, waited, and then struck. Those who say that the US is behind them will not cope with the Turkish people. This is our people's struggle," Erdogan stated, speaking at a women's congress in the province of Bursa.

He also blamed the U.S., indirectly:

In a speech to his ruling AK Party Erdogan said that 'some allies' of Turkey had provided the YPG Syrian Kurdish militia with 2,000 planeloads and 5,000 truckloads of weapons.

"Now, apart from 5,000 trucks, there are weapons and ammunition from around 2,000 planes." the Turkish leader said. He also accused Ankara's allies of dishonesty when they say that they do not provide weapons for "terrorists," referring to Kurdish-linked YPG forces.

The president also vowed to hand over Afrin to its "real owners," explaining that he aims to return 3.5 million refugees back to Syria from Turkey as soon as possible.

Comment: See also:

• Nikki Haley hosts Jerusalem UN vote after-party for 'Friends of the US': Countries representing 0.5% of world population show up
• Trump's Jerusalem Card and the 'Obama-Hezbollah' Scandal
• UN vote condemning US decision on Jerusalem signals Washington's waning influence
• Ten reasons to celebrate the UN vote on Jerusalem

Comment: This harassment has already backfired when Turkish Army started 'Operation Olive Branch' in Afrin. Russia relocated its troops from the area. This is a latest in the long list of US operations that backfired since Russian military intervention in Syria. The coup against Erdogan pushed its crucial ally in the middle east (Turkey) to migrate towards Russia. The covert influence in shooting down Russian plane in Syria, allowed Putin to put all their air defense systems and do what he wants to do from the beginning. United States decision to create 30,000 personnel created the opportunity for Erdogan to capture Afrin (and possibly Manjib too), which he will be happy to do. Unfortunately, Washington Beltway can't acknowledge that it is not the only sheriff in the town and that every action creates stronger reaction from other parties involved in the conflict. See also:

• Afrin knot: How the battle for a small Kurdish enclave could be a sign of the failed US foreign policy
• Russian MoD: US arms supplies to loyal groups in Syria led to Turkish military Op.

Comment: The more the US tries to control this region with its shadow support of terrorist factions, the more chaos it creates. That is what neighboring nations like Turkey and Iraq don't want. Naturally, they too want to protect their interests, but they aren't prepared to wreck the place in the process. After all, they have to live there; the Americans don't.

See also:

• Afrin knot: How the battle for a small Kurdish enclave could be a sign of the failed US foreign policy
• Turkish PM Binali Yildirim says that ground phase of attack on Afrin will start on Sunday - Turkish tanks enter Afrin, YPG denies - UPDATE