Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday challenged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to meet him in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region for talks on ending the conflict there and easing tensions between the two states.

• April 21, 2021

By Eugene Kogan, Tbilisi-based defence and security expert

The relationship between Russia and Turkey is an unequal one. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan does not like playing second fiddle in the Russian-Turkish orchestra, conducted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, at every twist and turn, Putin holds more leverage over Erdogan than the other way around.
Putin will cooperate with Turkey as long as it suits Russian interests. He would quickly end the relationship if Turkey were to turn against him and tried to return to the Western fold from which it has drifted away ever since the failed coup on 15 July 2016. Erdoğan is aware of this and, as a result, is leading Turkey ever deeper into the Russian fold since the European Union, the United States and NATO all remain suspicious of him and his administration’s goals and are simply unwilling to assist him in his various military activities in Libya, Syria and, most recently, in the South Caucasus. READ MORE.

• April 17, 2021

The Kremlin said on Friday it hoped the United States and European Union would fall back on common sense and resist calls to impose new sanctions on Moscow over its treatment of opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

• February 19, 2021

Russia’s ambassador to Belarus said on Wednesday that Moscow had fully compensated Minsk for the 2019 contaminated oil crisis, Russian news agencies reported, a statement that Belarus subsequently questioned.

• February 10, 2021

Russian opposition plans to convert anger over Alexei Navalny’s arrest and jailing into parliamentary seats at the ruling pro-Kremlin party’s expense later this year have suffered a setback after an acrimonious outbreak of infighting.

• February 10, 2021

Further sanctions against Russia need to target the right people, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday, adding that cancelling the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would merely push Russia closer to China.

• February 10, 2021

Russian authorities are considering a new social spending package worth at least $6.7 billion to address discontent over falling living standards before an autumn election, according to two government sources.

• February 8, 2021

Russian state prosecutors said they would ask a court on Tuesday to jail opposition politician Alexei Navalny for up to three and a half years, and the Kremlin said it would not listen to U.S. complaints about his case.

• February 1, 2021