Russia, the world's top crude producer, rejected a Chinese request for more Siberian pipeline oil, saying the link is already pumping at full capacity and additional volumes are not available, two Russian state industry sources told Reuters.

• March 5, 2012

The Russian Defense Ministry has settled its debt to Kyrgyzstan for keeping its military bases in that country, the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry told Interfax on Saturday.

• March 3, 2012

Unless Ukraine lifts its ban of Belarusian milk and meat, Minsk threatens to impose a total ban on Ukrainian export to this country, Ukraine agriculture ministry March 3 website release runs.

• March 3, 2012

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has rejected the terms of a Russian offer for the two sides to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since their 2008 war over a breakaway Georgian republic.

• March 3, 2012

Kazakh officials hope that recent trade deals with Germany and France will lead to a trade pact with the European Union that will fuel the Central Asian nation’s economic development.

• March 2, 2012

Russia and China do not want armed intervention in Syria? Good deal! There was never any question, west side, repeat the Libyan episode in 2011. Causing blockage of Russia and China to the UN, it is not only the fear of a regime change in Damascus by international armed intervention that nobody wants. It is the fear of a regime change under external pressure whatsoever, whether diplomatic pressure, threats of financial penalties or energy.

• March 2, 2012

Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has asked the US not to interfere in Pakistan’s internal matters.
Gilani insisted that Pakistan is a sovereign nation, and therefore it would make decisions which served its interests, The Nation reports.

• March 2, 2012

Turkmenistan and Turkey have signed a package of intergovernmental agreements after negotiations at the highest level in Ankara, an official Turkmen source said on Thursday.

• March 1, 2012