European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, suggesting closer trade ties between the 28-nation EU and a Russian-led economic bloc once a ceasefire is implemented in Ukraine.

• November 19, 2015

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday the West had to drop its demands about the political exit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if it wanted a genuinely international coalition against Islamic State militants.

• November 18, 2015

Russia said on Tuesday it had stepped up air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria with long-range bombers and cruise missiles after the Kremlin said it wanted retribution for those responsible for blowing up a Russian airliner over Egypt.

• November 17, 2015

Russia wants to reach a compromise over Ukraine's debt to Russia and has made an "interesting" offer to settle the issue, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Monday.

• November 16, 2015

Issue # 81
11/16/2015
Ukraine on high combat alert.
Ukrainian parliament recognizes 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide.
Genocide victims to be commemorated on 18 May annually READ MORE

• November 16, 2015

Russia has banned incoming flights by Egypt's state-owned airline, a senior Russian diplomat and an official of Moscow's Domodedovo airport said on Friday, two weeks after a Russian jet crash in Sinai that Islamist militants claimed to have caused.

• November 13, 2015

A Snapshot of Key Developments in the External Relations of the Russian Gas Sector
By Dr Jack Sharples, EGF Associate Researcher on the external dimensions of Russian gas and Lecturer in Energy Politics at the European University of St Petersburg

• Gazprom and the EU: Good news and bad news for Gazprom: sales volumes rising but prices falling in 2015-16; European Commission and Gazprom continue on their dual-track approach to resolving the antimonopoly case; Stalemate over Gazprom’s use of the OPAL pipeline; EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, warns against Nord Stream-II at European Parliament plenary session
• Nord Stream: Gazprom CEO suggests that Nord Stream-II gas could be delivered to south-eastern Europe; Nord Stream-II to enter Baltic Sea at Ust-Luga, not Vyborg; Nord Stream reaches milestone 100 bcm of deliveries, but continues to operate below capacity
• Turkish Stream: Turkish Botaş initiates gas price arbitration against Gazprom as Russia-Turkey relations come under strain
• Ukraine: Naftogaz prepays and resumes imports from Gazprom, without formally signing the ‘Winter Package’ agreement
• Asia: Gazprom launches construction of Amur gas processing plant (GPP) as part of the Power of Siberia project; Gazprom hosts working meetings with Mitsui and Mitsubishi to discuss Sakhalin-II LNG terminal expansion; Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore (GM&TS) signs 10-year LNG sale-and-purchase agreement with Singaporean state-owned Pavilion Gas for exports to the Asia-Pacific region
• Other: Gazprom launches construction of second line of Ukhta-Torzhok pipeline

• November 13, 2015

Syrian opposition figures and Gulf commentators dismissed on Wednesday a Russian draft proposal for a process to solve the Syrian crisis, saying Moscow's aim was to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power and marginalize dissenting voices.

• November 12, 2015