Oil futures rose on Friday as tensions over Iran and an extension to output cuts by OPEC and its allies boosted prices, but mixed economic data limited the rally.

• July 17, 2019

President Vladimir Putin said relations between Moscow and Washington were getting worse and worse, noting in an interview published on Thursday that the current U.S. administration had imposed dozens of sanctions on Russia.

• July 15, 2019

Russian state gas giant Gazprom is awaiting the formation of a Ukrainian government before starting talks with Kiev on extending a deal to transit Russian gas across Ukraine to Europe, a senior company official said on Tuesday.

• July 15, 2019

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed that he is aware of Germany’s demand that Ukraine continues to transport gas to Europe after the opening of the Nordstream 2 pipeline, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday.

• July 15, 2019

By Benyamin Poghosyan, PhD, Executive Director, Political Science Association of Armenia

A pivot towards the West is simply not in Armenia’s best interest.
Immediately after the “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia during the spring of 2018, the main narrative regarding possible developments in Armenian and Russian relations focused on negative expectations. Conventional wisdom brought plenty of reasons for such a mood. Russian authorities do not like leaders who come to power through street demonstrations, and Russia mainly exerts power in its neighbourhood through a network of corrupt and oligarchic elites. READ MORE

• July 12, 2019

By Nika Chitadze, PhD, Director, Center for International Studies, International Black Sea University, Tbilisi

By Putin's order, flights to Georgia from Russia will be prohibited from July 8. Based on past experience, it can be mentioned, that this step from the official Kremlin may not be a catastrophe for Georgia and on the contrary, to be a chance for the better future. The opening of the Russian market during the last several years and the partial settlement of relations with Russia was considered as a means of growth of Georgia's economy, but the developments since 2013 have proved contradictory. READ MORE

• July 12, 2019

The EU has strongly urged Iran to reverse its decision to raise the level at which it enriches uranium beyond that allowed by a 2015 nuclear deal.

• July 8, 2019

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that the issue of Ukrainian sailors detained by Russia in 2018 had dominated his talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the G20 summit but no decision on the sailors’ fate had been made yet.

• July 1, 2019