Russia's foreign minister on Thursday brushed off Iran's recent criticism as an emotional outburst and expressed frustration with Tehran in the standoff over its nuclear program.

• May 28, 2010

President Mikheil Saakashvili on Wednesday oversaw Georgia's first military parade since the 2008 war with Russia and urged the army to stand firm against what he called a continuing threat from "outside forces".

• May 27, 2010

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched a stinging attack on Russia Wednesday over its stance on Tehran's atomic drive, accusing it of "siding with those who have been our enemy for 30 years."

• May 27, 2010

A week after announcing a uranium-swap agreement with Turkey and Brazil, Iran on Monday formally submitted the proposal to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna — and in doing so, as Tehran sees it, put the proverbial ball back in the court of the U.S. and its allies.

• May 27, 2010

Russia has discovered a new ideology in its foreign policy: money.

• May 27, 2010

Russia will resume talks to join the World Trade Organisation next month, a year after suspending them to create a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan.

• May 27, 2010

The US secretary of state visits South Korea as the North cuts ties after being blamed for sinking a warship.

• May 26, 2010

Energy and security: Russia’s new obsession with the wider Black Sea region Revived by the economic recovery it has witnessed in recent years, and not necessarily weakened by the global financial crisis, Russia is demonstrating itself to be an increasingly assertive (political and economic) force in the wider-Black and Caspian Seas (BCS) basin. Exerting influence in the BCS region is a crucial element in the Russian geopolitical strategy, given the region’s importance both as an energy producer as well as its vitality as a primary corridor for the transit of oil and gas to international markets.

• May 26, 2010