Armenia will not lose its independence after joining the Russian-led customs union, Russia’s ambassador in Yerevan, Ivan Volynkin, insisted on Friday, strongly denying that Moscow is keen to recreate the former Soviet Union.  READ MORE

Sir, While expressing my deep appreciation of a profound analysis offered by the FT in the article “Which way to turn?” (November 12) I still believe it is worth adding some highlights as well as reinforcing some conclusions. READ MORE

NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow on Thursday (14 November 2013) called on senior representatives from defence industry and Allied governments to forge closer ties at this year’s NATO-Industry Forum held in Istanbul, Turkey. “We are faced with increasingly complex global security challenges and shrinking defence budgets in many of our NATO nations. These two factors combined mean that effective security today requires a new level of multinational cooperation,” Ambassador Vershbow said. READ MORE

Kazakhstan is the most active and reliable partner of NATO in Central Asia, and the North Atlantic Alliance hopes to maintain the rates of cooperation with the Republic of Kazakhstan in the sphere of further stabilization in Afghanistan, fighting terrorism, drugs trafficking, as well as assurance of international security and stability, reports Kazinform. READ MORE

Russian President Putin is set to arrive in Seoul with a long list of issues, including plans for a rail link that could ultimately link Europe to South Korean ports. The main stumbling block is likely to be Pyongyang. READ MORE

The European Commission decided to prepare an in-depth analysis of Germany's persistently high current account surplus to find out if it is a sign of a serious imbalance in Europe's biggest economy. READ MORE

Indian Premier Manmohan Singh’s October 21–22 visit to Moscow not only reaffirmed traditional Indo-Russian amity, it also revealed significant trends in Asian developments that affect both parties as well as other key players like the United States, China and Pakistan. READ MORE

Thirteen of Britain's most-wanted criminals, thought to be on the run in Spain, have been named by the National Crime Agency. READ MORE

The leaders of the Dutch and French far right launched an alliance to fight the European Union from within at a meeting on Wednesday in The Hague. Marine Le Pen of France's Front National and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands Party for Freedom (PVV) hope to attract other parties to a Europe-wide alliance of far-right parties ahead of next year's European elections. READ MORE

The Kyrgyz foreign ministry has notified the US ambassador in Kyrgyzstan it is going to shut down the US Manas air base in July 2014, media say. READ MORE