U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden's imminent visit to Georgia will be watched for indications of an American strategic re-engagement with the Black Sea-South Caucasus region. The Obama administration has not yet defined its policy in this regard and the Vice-President cannot be expected to announce any... MORE

After visiting breakaway South Ossetia on July 13 and Russian troops based deep inside Georgia, President Dmitry Medvedev traveled to Novorossiysk to inspect Russia's main deepwater Black Sea port and nearby military facilities. Medvedev visited the Black Sea fleet flagship cruiser Moskva, attended a meeting... MORE

Since the ethnic riots in Urumqi, the capital of China's northwestern Xinjiang region populated by ethnic Turkic Uighurs, which resulted in the deaths of at least 156 people, including many Uighurs, Sino-Turkish relations have entered a low-level crisis. In the aftermath of the riots, the... MORE

Following U.S. President Barack Obama's reaffirmation of political support for Georgia at the Moscow summit (EDM, July 14), and anticipating U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden's visit to Tbilisi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev inspected the occupied South Ossetia on July 13. Medvedev made clear that the Russian... MORE

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

On July 13 the Nabucco transit countries removed an important obstacle for the strategic pipeline project. Attending a high profile meeting hosted by Turkey, the prime ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey inked the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA). The ceremony was also attended by... MORE

In line with implementing stricter security policies in Sevastopol and the Crimea, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is adopting tougher policies towards Russian intelligence activities in the peninsula. These follow the August 2008 decrees restricting the movement of Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels in... MORE

U.S. President Barack Obama's firm stand on Georgia during the July 6-7 Moscow summit, to be followed by Vice-President Joseph Biden's visit to Georgia on July 22, marks a crossroads in U.S. policy toward Georgia. With the Obama administration's transition process now practically complete, the... MORE

The Russian MoD controlled Zvezda TV reported on July 9 that the Far Eastern Military District (MD) is preparing its largest redeployment of hardware since World War II as part of an "anti-terrorist" exercise with China. On 22 July the Russian armed forces will jointly... MORE

On July 8, Istanbul hosted the first joint ministerial meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-Turkey strategic dialogue, which served to highlight the growing multi-dimensional ties between the country and the Middle East. Ankara has increased the frequency of bilateral meetings with the regional states,... MORE