Moscow and Beijing have hailed what they describe as a bilateral strategic partnership, but Russian and Chinese state-run energy companies struggle to agree to a compromise on energy prices. Both sides insisted that the visit by China's President Hu Juntao to Russia on June 16-18... MORE

The incendiary idea of abolishing the republics of North Caucasus resurfaces in the Terek Cossacks' demands as a way of dealing with regional problems, but Moscow's constraints still persist. Terek Cossack army's ataman Mikhail Inkavtsov attacked North Caucasus republics, accusing the ethnic republics of being... MORE

July 10 marked fifteen years since Alyaksandr Lukashenka's victory in the second round of the 1994 presidential election in Belarus. Though he has retained power partly by undemocratic means, repressing opponents and monopolizing the media, his success is nonetheless remarkable and worthy of analysis.In the... MORE

U.S. President Barack Obama's first summit meeting in Moscow with Russian leaders did not warrant headlines in the Ukrainian media. The top story, understandably, continued to be the seemingly unending political crisis in the country, as a consequence of which, American-Russian summitry was buried in... MORE

President Barack Obama's administration wanted to make the Moscow summit a success, and their Russian counterparts, though more skeptical, decided to follow this approach. Positive speeches were made and a cluster of agreements signed. Contentious issues were mentioned, but not emphasized. The atmosphere in U.S.-Russian... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko may return to the idea of disbanding parliament and call snap elections. The opposition Party of Regions (PRU), which has the largest caucus in parliament, has disrupted parliament's work following its leader Viktor Yanukovych's failure to form a grand coalition with... MORE

U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Moscow which started a few hours ago as Air Force One landed in Vnukovo was awaited with such anxiety and generated so much commentary in the Russian media, as if it could miraculously bring the economic crisis to an... MORE

The Ukrainian parliament on June 23 scheduled the next presidential election for January 17, 2010. Although the motion was passed by an overwhelming majority of 399 votes in the 450-seat unicameral chamber, it came as a result of the long confrontation between Prime Minister Yulia... MORE

Armenian authorities have begun releasing dozens of political prisoners more than 15 months after suppressing massive opposition demonstrations against the official results of a disputed presidential election. They have ensured, however, that not all jailed supporters of the top opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian are set... MORE

Russian energy super-giant Gazprom has taken severe blows in the still-deepening recession, and the worst setbacks have happened in its most profitable market - the European Union. Various assessments show that the volume of its export to Europe shrunk by 35-40 percent in the first... MORE