Battalions of Ukrainian riot police withdrew on Wednesday from a protest camp after moving against demonstrators overnight in the authorities' biggest attempt yet to reclaim streets after weeks of protests against President Viktor Yanukovich.

• December 11, 2013

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich gave no ground on Tuesday to protesters who want Kiev to move closer to the European Union, insisting his government needs to deepen trade ties with Russia instead.

• December 11, 2013

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, speaking on television after more than two weeks of street unrest over his U-turn away from the European Union towards Russia, said on Tuesday there was no alternative to restoring trade relations with Moscow.

• December 10, 2013

Russia and Cuba have quietly signed an agreement to write off 90 percent of Cuba's $32 billion debt to the defunct Soviet Union, a deal that ends a 20-year squabble and opens the way for more investment and trade, Russian and European diplomats said.

• December 10, 2013

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, facing mass street protests over his policy U-turn away from the European Union towards Russia, backed on Monday a call for talks involving the opposition to work out a compromise, his website said.

• December 9, 2013

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich met Russia's Vladimir Putin on Friday to lay the grounds for a new "strategic partnership" to shore up Ukraine's creaking economy in defiance of protesters back home enraged by his U-turn away from Europe.

• December 7, 2013

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich is stopping off in Russia to have talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on his way back home from an official visit to China, Ukraine's UNIAN news agency said on Friday.

• December 6, 2013

A Snapshot of Key Developments in the External Relations of the Russian Gas Sector
By 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:

• Russian Parliament approves government bill to liberalise Russia’s LNG exports
• Gazprom’s gas exports to Europe to hit five-year high in 2013
• Novatek emerges as a new supplier of Russian gas to Europe by signing LNG contract with Spanish Fenosa
• Gazprom-Lithuania dispute reaches Court of Justice of the European Union
• Gazprom warns Europe over Ukrainian gas transit this winter, as Naftogaz Ukraine briefly suspends gas purchases from Gazprom in mid-November and Ukraine fails to sign an Association Agreement with the EU
• Gazprom starts work on Serbian section of South Stream
• Gazprom representatives remain confident that Gazprom will conclude a contract with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) before the end of 2013
• Gazprom founds joint venture with PetroVietnam for the development of gas as a transportation fuel
• Tug-of-war over Severenergia symbolic of the competition between Rosneft, Gazprom, and Novatek

• December 5, 2013