Ukraine's and Russia's leaders have reached a preliminary agreement on a price for gas supplies this winter but Kiev may need international help to pay, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday.

• October 19, 2014

Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency has concluded that pro-Russian rebels are to blame for the downing of Malaysia Airline MH17 in Ukraine in July, Der Spiegel weekly reported on Sunday, the first European agency to say so.

• October 19, 2014

Russia and Ukraine made progress on Friday towards resolving a dispute over gas supplies in time for winter, but European leaders said Moscow still had to do much more to prop up a fragile ceasefire and end fighting in eastern Ukraine.

• October 17, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko will look for ways to settle a dispute over natural gas supplies and end months of conflict in east Ukraine at talks in Italy this week.

• October 15, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed on Tuesday to increase intelligence sharing between Moscow and Washington on Islamic State militants, focusing on a common enemy even as deep divisions remained over the crisis in Ukraine.

• October 15, 2014

Russian hackers exploited a bug in Microsoft Windows and other software to spy on computers used by NATO, the European Union, Ukraine and companies in the energy and telecommunications sectors, according to cyber intelligence firm iSight Partners.

• October 14, 2014

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

Key points:

• EU antitrust investigation: suspended but not finished
• Lithuanian government continues with arbitration case against Gazprom
• Gazprom struggles to meet European gas demand beyond contracted levels as winter approaches
• European gas prices continue to fall – Gazprom could face revenue shortage
• Gazprom and Ukraine – new round of trilateral gas talks imminent as winter approaches
• Gazprom reduces gas supplies to Poland, Slovakia, and Austria – a warning against ‘reverse flow’?
• Hungary sides with Gazprom against Ukraine
• Nord Stream: European Commission delays decision on OPAL pipeline until 31st of October
• South Stream: EU cannot halt South Stream construction, but threatens action upon completion of the pipeline
• South Stream: EU puts pressure on Serbia to halt South Stream construction
• Gazprom could sign second contract for gas deliveries to China, this time via the ‘Western Route’
• Gazprom agrees to expand the capacity of Blue Stream pipeline from 16 bcm to 19 bcm per year

• October 14, 2014

Russia and China signed energy, trade and finance agreements on Monday proclaimed by Moscow as proof that a policy turn to Asia is bearing fruit and will help it to weather Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

• October 13, 2014