Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom said on Thursday it had made "significant progress" in talks with Ukraine, a key export market and transit route to Europe, and hoped to agree on future supply terms by year end.

• December 1, 2011

Russia on Thursday urged North Korea to halt its uranium enrichment programme after the Stalinist state reported rapid progress on what some experts believe is a second way of making nuclear weapons.

• December 1, 2011

Kazakh Defense Minister Adilbek Dzhaksybekov and U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Asian and Pacific Security Affairs discussed future cooperation on Wednesday, Kazakh Defense Minister reported.

• November 30, 2011

APA-ECONOMICS. Until 2025, SOCAR intends to invest $15 bln in Turkey, head of SOCAR Investments Department Vagif Aliyev said, APA reports citing Turkish media.

• November 30, 2011

Britain began pulling its diplomats out of Iran on Wednesday, a day after protesters stormed and ransacked its embassy and residential compound in the capital Tehran.

• November 30, 2011

Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov and Managing Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for South-Eastern Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus and Central Asia Olivier Descamps discussed future cooperation, the Prime Minister's press service reported.

• November 29, 2011

Russia has activated a radar warning system against incoming missiles in its exclave of Kaliningrad on the borders of the European Union, in response to Western plans to deploy a missile-defense shield in Europe.

• November 29, 2011

A senior U.S. official has dismissed Iran's threats against NATO missile defense installations in Turkey ahead of a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to the key U.S. ally and linchpin of NATO's southern flank.

• November 29, 2011