President Dmitry Medvedev marked the end of his first presidential year exactly the same way as he started - by presiding over the military parade on Red Square. There was, however, a different feeling about this picture-perfect display of military muscle, not only because Medvedev... MORE

On April 21, Beijing and Moscow finalized an intergovernmental deal under which Russia will supply China with oil for 20 years in exchange for a $25 billion loan to Russia's state-run energy companies. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said the construction of a branch from... MORE

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, commencing talks with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on April 29, said that a "certain confrontation" in the gas trade between the two countries will soon become history. She had planned to meet Putin on April 8, but... MORE

The situation in Georgia appears to be deteriorating rapidly. Last month the Georgian opposition parties began street protests in an effort to force President Mikhail Saakashvili to resign. Since April 9 massive rallies by opposition supporters failed to compel Saakashvili to yield, and the number... MORE

Discussions over the many conflicts between Ukraine and Russia have focused on the more well known: the status of the Russian language, unpaid energy bills and gas pipelines, withdrawal of the Black Sea Fleet, Russia's invasion of Georgia, support for Crimean separatism, and future NATO... MORE

The last thing that NATO needed on the eve of its controversial military exercises in Georgia was a mutiny, and that is exactly what happened yesterday. The details are still scarce and rumors run rife, as they always do in the South Caucasus, but perhaps... MORE

On April 29 the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) Council of Defense Ministers met in Moscow to discuss enhancing military and security cooperation to counter terrorism, separatism and extremism. The meeting served as an important preparation for the SCO Summit in Yekaterinburg on June 15-16. The... MORE

Gazprom may be preparing to take over a large part of the Hungarian domestic gas distribution network. A new, highly opaque deal is in the works as a result of which Hungary's energy security could be threatened. On April 28 Emfesz KFT, a major Hungarian... MORE

On February 26, Moscow ordered an inspection of the Far Eastern Jewish Autonomous Region (Birobidzhan) which borders China. Since 1991, the population of this region has declined by 15 percent, while there has also been a steady influx of Chinese migrants. Now, some local night... MORE

At the oil and gas conference just held in Baku, Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev, confirmed that Azerbaijan strives for access to European markets as the main export destination for Azerbaijani gas and, potentially, for Turkmen gas via Azerbaijan to Europe (Turan, April 27).The... MORE