The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas referred to Turkey as “one of the EU's most important partners as a candidate country and major Nato ally playing a central role in European security” as on January 24 she paid a visit to Ankara and met with Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.

Russia accused Ukraine on Monday of launching a weekend drone attack on infrastructure of a major gas pipeline that carries Russian supplies to Europe via Turkey.

Gazprom is considering cutting about 40% of its headquarters staff - more than 1,500 job cuts - as the Russian gas giant grapples with the loss of most of its sales to Europe, state news agency TASS reported on Monday.

Russia said on Monday it had downed nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack part of the infrastructure of the TurkStream gas pipeline, through which Russian gas flows to Turkey and Europe, and called the attack an "act of energy terrorism".

The Turkish Stream pipeline enabled Russia to avoid using Ukraine as a transit country when exporting natural gas to Europe, the Middle East Monitor reported.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico discussed the potential for securing Russian gas through Turkey with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who pledged Ankara’s help in finding a solution with Moscow.

Russia's Rosatom energy company is building Turkey's first nuclear power plant. But construction has been delayed because of the nondelivery of German-made parts.

Since Assad’s fall in the first week of December, Israel has destroyed a large proportion of Syria’s strategic stock of weapons so that they do not fall into the hands of Islamic State and other hostile forces. And Israel has unilaterally seized the Syrian side of Mount Hermon and the United Nations demilitarized zone adjacent to the Golan Heights.

Ukraine continues to cripple Russia's energy sector by hitting numerous oil refineries, depots, chemical plants, and more with drones.

Turkey may consider resuming trade with Israel if stability is achieved, according to DEIK head Nail Olpak. The trade halt followed last year's conflict between Israel and Hamas. Meanwhile, Turkish exporters face payment issues in Russia due to Western sanctions,

Ukraine is suspected for another attack on major Russian pipeline infrastructure. After mysterious explosions hit the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near Denmark in September 2022, the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) allegedly told Belgian secret services that Ukraine could be responsible.

Turkey’s actions in Syria and Iraq also signal a deeper shift away from its Western alliances. Erdogan’s government has cultivated closer ties with Russia.