On March 15, Baku hosted the first official ministerial meeting of a new quadrilateral regional format, encompassing Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran and Georgia (Trend, March 15). The new grouping was conceived to enhance cooperation among the four neighboring states, particularly in the security sphere. Until now,... MORE

Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement, on March 14, that the United Kingdom was evaluating other natural gas import options to decrease her country’s dependence on gas imports from Russia. The UK prime minister’s assurance came as a response to a comment made by... MORE

In January, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of National Economy reported that oil production in the country had risen from 78 million to 86.2 million metric tons year-on-year, whereas only six months earlier, in July 2017, the annual forecast had stood at just 81 million. The giant Kashagan... MORE

When Khaltmaa Battulga assumed the presidency of Mongolia in July 2017, most foreign and domestic observers believed he would pursue a much more pro-Russian policy than his globalist-minded predecessor, Tsakhia Elbegdorj. Battulga’s anti-Chinese rhetoric buttressed this prediction during the political campaign, followed by his first... MORE

Ukraine’s national oil and natural gas company, Naftogaz Ukrainy, claimed a final victory in a four-year dispute over gas supply and transit with Russia’s Gazprom. The Stockholm arbitration court, where Naftogaz and Gazprom sued each other in 2014, last December obliged Naftogaz to pay much... MORE

Kyiv claims Russia has been siphoning off natural gas from offshore fields it seized from Ukraine in 2014, after forcibly annexing Crimea. The Ukrainian government detailed its claims in a memo submitted to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg.... MORE

Since the Syrian civil war erupted nearly seven years ago, perhaps the most dramatic regional diplomatic development has been the steady reemergence of Russia as a major player in the convoluted world of Middle East politics. As a reward for its intervention in Syria, Russia... MORE

In January, the Georgian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development approved its annual energy assessment (balance), which shows that Georgia will not purchase any natural gas from Russia this year. Instead, 99.65 percent of the 2.689 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas Georgia will consume... MORE

Russia’s actions in Latin America—including a recent series of economic agreements signed with Argentina (Izvestia, January 18)—are often overlooked given that Europe, Asia, the Middle East and, of course, the United States are widely understood to be much higher foreign policy priorities for Moscow. But... MORE

The foreign ministers of the five littoral Caspian states—Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran—met in Moscow, on December 5, 2017, to try to finalize an agreement on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. After the talks, the Azerbaijani and Russian representatives, Elmar Mammadyarov and... MORE