German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday urged both Russia and Ukraine to de-escalate the conflict in eastern Ukraine and said France and Germany were ready to help by monitoring naval traffic near the Crimean coast.

• January 28, 2019

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

As it is known, US President Donald Trump recently adopted a decision on the withdrawal of about two thousands American military serviceman from Syria. It is possible that one of the main purposes of the American contingent’s withdrawal is the restoration of closer relations between USA and Turkey and the prevention of strengthening cooperation between Moscow and Ankara. READ MORE

• January 28, 2019

Russia should not unleash an oil price war against the United States but rather stick with output cuts even at the cost of losing market share in the medium term, one of the main Russian architects of a production pact with OPEC said.

• January 26, 2019

Russia and Ukraine will meet for further gas talks in May after an EU-mediated discussion in Brussels on Monday yielded no concrete results, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said.

• January 26, 2019

By Eugene Kogan, Tbilisi-based defence and security expert

It can be ascertained that until the Russian illegal annexation of Crimea, in March 2014, the Black Sea Region was perceived as a region with certain problems, but certainly not of a military nature. As a result, this region was neither high on the international community agenda nor on the radar screen of the NATO member states, and that despite membership of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey in NATO. Furthermore, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government thought back in 2014 that they were capable to handle President Vladimir Putin’s Russia single-handed, NATO assistance was not required, and non-NATO members such as Georgia and Ukraine should not be involved. READ MORE

• January 24, 2019

Any attempts by the United States to stop Europe buying Russian gas via additional sanctions against Moscow would be an attack on the continent’s sovereignty, a German business group said on Friday.

• January 20, 2019

President Vladimir Putin opened Russia’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) on Tuesday, saying it bolsters the country’s energy security.

• January 20, 2019

President Vladimir Putin opened Russia’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) on Tuesday, saying it bolsters the country’s energy security.

• January 11, 2019