Vladimir Putin has said it will take decades to reform Russia and that he wants to keep shaping the fate of the world’s largest country, as he gave his strongest indication he will serve a third term as president from 2012.

• August 31, 2010

The Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, on Monday said he trusted the US President, Mr Barack Obama, who earnestly wants to “reset” relations with Moscow, but doubted the US policy in the region.

• August 31, 2010

Armenian leaders are ecstatic that Russia is getting involved in the construction of a new nuclear power plant at Metsamor. Environmentalists and technical experts are far less enthused, saying that a new Metsamor unit poses considerable risks.

• August 31, 2010

Kyrgyzstan launched a $200m hydroelectric power station yesterday, its first since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in a move likely to intensify competition for Central Asia’s scarce water resources.

• August 31, 2010

India's parliament approved a final, critical piece of a long-delayed landmark civil nuclear agreement Monday, a pact regarded as a cornerstone of a Bush-era effort to transform the relationship between the United States and the world's largest democracy.

• August 31, 2010

With the help of Russian experts, fuel loading into Iran's first nuclear power plant, which started on Aug. 21, is set to finish in a week, after which the Bushehr nuclear power plant will become operational.

• August 31, 2010

Lithuanian energy minister said that diversification of the gas market in Lithuania will eliminate the need for ties to the Russian energy sector by 2020, news agency UPI reports.

• August 30, 2010

Russia, Greece, Iran and Iraq will officially not be posing any threat to Turkey soon. Turkish media said that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan intends to considerably revise the national security strategy in October 2010. The head of the Turkish government will reportedly exclude the above-mentioned countries from the list of external threats.

• August 30, 2010