Russia has complained that a U.S. move to scrap a 15-year-old deal sheltering Russian flat-rolled steel producers from high import duties is inconsistent with World Trade Organization rules.

• December 22, 2014

The Russian economy will slide next year into its first recession since the global financial crisis and inflation will be close to double digits, economists forecast in a Reuters poll, as the oil price crash and Western sanctions bite.

• December 22, 2014

Geopolitics plague Lithuanians at this frozen Russian border post, where a return trip by car can mean 48 hours of queuing. It is a reminder for some of why the former Soviet republic will cement its move to the West by joining the euro zone next month.

• December 21, 2014

China has offered more than $3 billion in loans and aid to neighbors Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos to improve infrastructure and production, and to fight poverty, state media reported on Saturday.

• December 21, 2014

Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said on Thursday that possible fallout from Greece's political showdown would not trigger a euro zone debt crisis like the one that pushed Italy close to default three years ago.

• December 19, 2014

President Vladimir Putin assured Russians on Thursday that the economy would rebound after the ruble's dramatic slide this year but offered no remedy for a deepening financial crisis.

• December 18, 2014

The European Union banned investment in Crimea on Thursday, halting European help for Russian Black Sea oil and gas exploration and outlawing European cruise ships from calling at Crimean ports.

• December 18, 2014

Russia failed to halt the collapse of the ruble on Tuesday, leaving President Vladimir Putin facing a full-blown currency crisis that could weaken his iron grip on power.

• December 17, 2014