Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also showed up noticeably during a recent inspection tour of the Far East region as an indication of the resolve of the Russian central authorities to attach importance to the region's development.

• September 14, 2010

The president of Kazakhstan is expected to discuss with his Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday the resumption of Kazakh oil transit via Ukraine to Europe.

• September 14, 2010

Britain's troubled relationship with Russia came under fresh strain on Monday after a London court considered a request from Moscow to extradite one of its most wanted businessmen.

• September 14, 2010

India's new nuclear liability law has been a disappointment in the US but it is faring no better with Russia, a country with which India's civil nuclear cooperation deal extends way beyond just supply of reactors. In fact, Moscow is now looking for an "official clarification" from the government on the law, recently passed by Parliament, which leaves a window open for making suppliers of raw material and equipment liable for damages in case of an accident.

• September 13, 2010

Paralyzing attacks on a vulnerable nation's web-connected electronic command, control and information systems are now a fact of life in our cyber-dependent world. Estonia and Georgia became victims of that modern menace in 2007 and 2008 when critical government systems were taken down by anonymous hackers who probably worked for Russia. The Georgia attacks coincided with a Russian invasion.

• September 13, 2010

Russia is likely to continue monopolizing the supply of fuel to the nation’s nuclear power plants, after the Ukrainian government – in typical non-transparent fashion – picked a Russian state company to build Ukraine’s first producer of nuclear fuel.

• September 10, 2010

On September 8, in Minsk, Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian Foreign Ministers discussed in detail the issues of cooperation within the framework of the EU Eastern Partnership Initiative, reported BC the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ministers Audronius Azubalis, Sergei Martynov and Kostyantyn Gryshchenko agreed to better coordinate the activities of experts and institutions when preparing and submitting to the European Commission the joint projects in the fields of integrated border management, energy, transport and preservation of cultural heritage.

• September 10, 2010

Wildfires returned to Russia, sweeping through several villages in Siberia and burning down more than 400 homes.

• September 9, 2010