An opposition politician claimed that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had a personal ejection seat installed on board his jet, but the presidential office denied the claim.

• May 21, 2010

Summary of Panel I: The Future of the Energy Charter and the Debate over the Third Package
The energy trade between Russia and the countries of the European Union (EU) is of fundamental significance for the energy security of each party. Despite the close proximity of the EU-Russia energy relationship, however, the legal and political basis underpinning this relationship, particularly with regards to the gas trade, has proven itself inadequate in guaranteeing the energy security of both parties. Russia's recent announcement of its intention "of not becoming a member" of the Energy Charter Treaty, and new proposal for global energy security has created further uncertainty. While it is hoped that a new government in Kiev will lead to an improvement of Russian relations with Ukraine, Ukraine's national gas transportation operator remains in a difficult financial position and another gas crisis embroiling Ukraine, Russia and the EU, whilst hardly imminent, cannot be entirely ruled out.

• May 21, 2010

Summary of Panel II: Russia’s Arctic Uncertainty
The discussion in the second panel of the online session, which focused on the future of upstream energy exploration projects in the Russian Arctic, brought out the following messages for European policy makers and was supported by the ensuing extended commentary. READ MORE

• May 21, 2010

Russia’s Deputy Premier Igor Sechin, taking direct aim at Middle Eastern oil producers, has urged Japan to increase its imports of Russian oil in addition to cooperating with his country on the development of its natural resources.

• May 20, 2010

“What lessons can we learn from the Soviet collapse and apply to the current situation in Russia?
First, we must remember that Russia today is an oil-dependent economy. No one can accurately predict the fluctuations of oil prices. The collapse of the Soviet Union should serve as a lesson to those who construct policy based on the assumption that oil prices will remain perpetually high. It would seem that in our country, which has lived through the collapse of the late 1980s and early 1990s, this fact would be evident. But as soon as the prices went up again at the beginning of 2000 and in 2004 became comparable in real terms to those at the beginning of the 1980s, the idea that ‘high oil revenues are forever’ has gained an even wider acceptance.

• May 20, 2010

Sanctions against Iran which include cargo ship inspections are being tabled at the UN Security Council.

• May 19, 2010

TPAO's winning of a second oil-producing tender will have a positive impact on the relations between Iraq and Turkey, Iraq's minister of oil has said.

• May 19, 2010

The “secret plans” of the Kremlin and Foreign Ministry to improve relations with the West is a topic of heated discussion among foreign policy analysts and journalists.

• May 19, 2010