G20 heads of state and government held their regular summit on November 15–16, in Brisbane, Australia. Within that large group, Western summiteers devoted much of their time to discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Ukraine. This was a follow-up to the same Western leaders’... MORE

The G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, was the last event in President Vladimir Putin’s lengthy Eastern tour that started on November 9, with a visit to China prior to the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) summit in Beijing. His only contribution to the discussions of the... MORE

In late June and early July, German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine and Francois Hollande of France held a series of telephone conferences in variable formats to negotiate control arrangements for the Russia–Ukraine border. Russia... MORE

During his official visit to Germany, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev warned that the Kremlin’s aggression is not limited to Ukraine or the territory of the former Soviet Union, but also threatens Southeastern Europe. “Today we see an aggressive and nationalistic Russia, which pursues a policy... MORE

Absorbed with the drama on the Sochi ski tracks and hockey rinks, the Russians cannot fail to notice that the athletic superpower that is confidently leading in the Olympic medal count is actually Germany. Relations with this key partner used to be so important for... MORE

On February 5, Gazprom refloated the option of expanding the Nord Stream pipeline by adding a third and possibly a fourth line to the existing two. A third and a fourth line would reach beyond the Baltic Sea to countries on the North Sea. Gazprom... MORE

Russian natural gas exports to Germany grew to 40.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2013, a hefty increase over the preceding year’s 33.2 bcm, according to Gazprom’s sales report for 2013 (Interfax, January 16, 2014).A growing share of that increasing volume enters Germany through the... MORE

Gazelle, the new gas transit pipeline in the Czech Republic, completed in 2013, is conceived to function as a prolongation of the Gazprom-controlled Nord Stream and OPAL pipelines into continental Europe; albeit free of Gazprom’s control on the Czech Republic’s territory.The Gazelle pipeline is dedicated... MORE

Russian Gazprom is taking over most of the core business of its German partner, Wintershall, in the natural gas trade and storage business. The two companies had conducted that business through the Wintershall-Gazprom joint venture, WINGAS, from 1993 to date. Gazprom is now turning WINGAS... MORE

On January 13, Gazprom Vice-President and Gazprom Export CEO Aleksandr Medvedev dropped by an annual meeting of Wintershall’s staff, at company headquarters in Kassel. It was, in this case, the guest who did the welcoming: Medvedev welcomed WINGAS, the Wintershall-Gazprom joint venture, to “become a... MORE