Japan and Turkmenistan on Friday signed deals worth over $18 billion on a package of projects in the energy-rich central Asian nation, which has become an important supplier of natural gas to China.

• October 23, 2015

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a European Union free trade agreement with Ukraine is not directed against Russia and that Berlin wants good economic ties with both Ukraine and Russia.

• October 23, 2015

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had told him he was ready to talk to armed opposition groups if they are genuinely committed to dialogue and to combating Islamic State.

• October 22, 2015

A new wave of migration might be starting following an increase in fighting in the Syrian province of Aleppo, where Syrian government and Russian warplanes are attacking opposition-held areas, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

• October 22, 2015

Russia's U.N. envoy on Thursday said the United Nations Security Council will examine the technical details of a ballistic missile test by Iran, which the United States and its European allies have said violated U.N. sanctions.

• October 22, 2015

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday approved the Iranian government's nuclear deal with world powers but said Tehran should not give up core elements of its atomic program until allegations of past military dimensions had been settled.

• October 21, 2015

Vladimir Putin used a rare visit to Moscow by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to talk up the Kremlin's potential to help broker a political settlement to the crisis as he tried to show the West Russia has become a major player in the Middle East.

• October 21, 2015

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia had foiled 20 militant attacks this year and was stepping up efforts to root out domestic terrorism, almost three weeks after launching air strikes against Islamist fighters in Syria.

• October 20, 2015