On May 17 in Sochi the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyp Erdogan concluded a deal on natural gas. Putin and Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller promised to proceed with the Blue Stream Two gas pipeline project in a revised version... MORE

Russia along with the rest of the international community strongly condemned the latest North Korean underground nuclear test this week. The Russian U.N. permanent representative Vitaly Churkin, censured North Korea and declared that it "violated international law and is threatening regional and international peace and... MORE

The Kremlin has reiterated its pledges to implement sizable infrastructure development projects in Mongolia in an attempt to boost bilateral economic ties. On ?May 13, the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Mongolia, urging the country to create new major joint ventures and develop agricultural... MORE

On May 25, the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev presented his budget address during a Kremlin meeting with cabinet members and parliamentary chairmen. "In 2009, unfortunately, we expect a sharper fall in GDP than we had thought," Medvedev said. "The global economic crisis is far from... MORE

On May 15 in Sochi, Gazprom signed bilateral agreements with Italy's ENI, Bulgarian Energy Holding, the Greek DESFA Corporation, and Serbia Gas -all state-controlled companies- on implementing Gazprom's South Stream project for gas export to Europe. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended the signing of... MORE

Recent reports within the Chinese press revealed that sales of a Chinese state-owned military conglomerate that produces equipments and arms for both civilian and military applications have rose substantially in the first quarter of 2009. A case in point is the Beijing-based China South Industries... MORE

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has recently made public comments about "the falsifiers of history," attacking the country and its heritage. This was a serious political statement of strategic importance - not merely a rhetorical proclamation, made just before the World War II Victory-Day military parade... MORE

On May 16 while Moscow was captivated by the spectacle of the "Eurovision" song contest, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin escaped to Sochi to devote himself to gas politics. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was his first guest, followed by the ceremony marking the signing of... MORE

The Russian authorities have long been dismissive of the growing neo-nazi movement within the country. However, on March 11 the National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAK, the high-level inter-departmental agency that coordinates the anti-terrorist activities of the security services) named neo-nazi youth groups as "one of the... MORE

The Russian National Security Strategy until 2020, approved by President Dmitry Medvedev on May 12, has been portrayed as innovative while clarifying the nature of the strategic environment facing the country. Much attention was devoted to the potential risk of future energy wars, in regions... MORE