All citizens must be able to exercise their right to expression and assembly. Including, for instance, sexual minorities. If this right, one of the cornerstones of a democracy, is threatened, it is the state's duty to defend it, says Denmark's Minister of Foreign Affairs Villy Søvndal. The minister, who came to Vilnius on Friday, wished Lithuania to achieve tangible results during its presidency over the Council of the European Union, something to benefit Europe's citizens and businesses. READ MORE

More than a decade after Russia offered staunch support to the United States following the 9/11 terror attacks, bilateral relations could receive another boost as US authorities investigate two brothers with ties to Russia’s turbulent North Caucasus region in connection with last week’s deadly Boston Marathon bombing, analysts and security experts said. READ MORE

Immediately after Xi Jinping was elected state president at the just-ended First Session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC), he revisited his idea about fulfilling the “China dream.” Xi, who is also general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and commander-in-chief, cited three prerequisites for bringing about the “renaissance of the Chinese race:” following the “Chinese road,” “developing the China spirit” and “concentrating and crystallizing China’s strength” (Xinhua, March 17). The last imperative about the concentration of powers has been reflected by the fact that a number of key party and state organs have been strengthened considerably. As Xi has reiterated since the 18th Party Congress last November, a crucial challenge of the new leadership is that it must “ensure that [Beijing’s] policies and directives are smoothly followed” by the entire nation (CNTV.cn, February 6; China.com.cn, January 8). READ MORE

Some adults turn their noses up at the question of “why,” believing it to be childish. And when it comes to the EU’s foreign policy, especially in its Eastern neighborhood, the question is considered simply inappropriate. That the EU will engage with its Eastern neighbors is just a given today. Take Ukraine. The EU has made a significant political investment in Kyiv over the years but has not given much thought to why Ukraine matters. READ MORE

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić said he would ask EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton to set a day for his country to open EU accession negotiations. The moves follows an agreement to improve relations with Kosovo, BETA, the EurActiv partner in Serbia, reports. READ MORE

Balkhash, Aktau and Kurchatov (East-Kazakhstan oblast) are being considered as likely locations for construction of nuclear plants in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan National Nuclear Center. READ MORE

The workshop organized by the GMF Warsaw Office and the Embassy of Sweden in Poland on March 26th 2013 entitled: “Nordic-Baltic Security and the role of Poland as a regional actor,” was a follow up event on two reports issued by the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI): “Polish security today and tomorrow” and “The Security and Defensibility of the Baltic States”. READ MORE

In-depth party-to-party exchanges and dialogue between China and Europe should play a unique role in narrowing differences and enhancing the Sino-European comprehensive strategic partnership, a senior official of the Communist Party of China said on Thursday. READ MORE

In the wake of the Boston marathon bombs, French interior minister Manuel Valls has asked French police and security forces to increase their vigilance immediately and reinforce preventative operations, especially around public buildings, as a priority. READ MORE

The Alliance looks forward to stepping up its partnership with the Republic of Korea, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday (12 April 2013) during a three-day long-planned visit to Seoul, the first ever by a NATO Secretary General. “NATO’s partnership with the Republic of Korea is still young, but it has great potential,” he said. READ MORE

The Eastern Europe unanimously placed its bet on the South Stream. Plain fact is that the new Europeans chose to protect their national interests in spite of all temptations and threats from Brussels and Washington. Now the South Stream business blueprint is complete and it is entering construction stage. By the end of 2018 the pipeline is planned to reach a transport capacity of 63 billion cubic meters per year – enough gigajoules to supply energy needs of 38 million households. What has encouraged the pro-South Stream choice of Eastern European political elites presuming their frosty relations with Russia? Why did they not resort to broadly advertised alternatives? READ MORE

President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen discussed cooperation prospects at the meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. READ MORE

G8 foreign ministers struggled in vain to agree on a united approach to the bloody conflict in Syria. The talks in London did, however, achieve consensus regarding the situation on the Korean peninsula.

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Next year, Georgia will host large-scale military exercises in which, perhaps, will participate region partner countries, said on Friday Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania after the demonstration exercises at a military base in Vaziani. READ MORE

Ukraine buys Russian gas at the highest prices in Europe. Last year the country was paying for gas on average 414,5 USD / thousand. cu. M. Due to the high cost of Russian gas to the country was forced to reduce purchases of Russian gas to 27 billion cubic meters. m, although the contract they had to be 41 billion cubic meters. m own gas production was 20.2 billion cubic meters.  READ MORE

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is telling Europe it needs to adopt new policies to boost economic growth, but his advice has been met coolly in Germany. READ MORE

During the bilateral meeting, President Dalia Grybauskaitė and Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg discussed the perspectives of economic and energy cooperation between Lithuania and Norway, the importance of Nordic-Baltic cooperation, the topical issues of the NATO agenda, and the priorities of the Lithuanian presidency of the EU Council. READ MORE

Kazakhstan’s mediation role in Iran, which resumes today, is not unique. Astana has striven to resolve conflicts throughout its Eurasian neighborhood.  To this end, at the end of March, Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov visited Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to engage in some shuttle diplomacy to help settle their differences over Tajikistan’s controversial Rogun Dam project. READ MORE

Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the former Prime Minister, Foreign Minister of Poland and former speaker of the Sejm, gives his views on current Russian-Polish and Belorussian-Polish relations and areas for their improvement. This interview was conducted on the sidelines of the international conference: “Russia and the European Union: Partnership and Potential” organized by RIAC.  READ MORE

Russia is the partner country for the 2013 Hannover Messe - the trade fair for the industrial sector. While German-Russian economic ties are booming, political problems are straining relations between the countries. READ MORE

Turkey's ability to have Islam and democracy coexisting together can help fight extremism in Europe where the Muslim population will continue to rise, Turkish Minister for European Union Affairs Egemen Bagis says. READ MORE

With China’s sights set firmly on taking over from the United States as the world’s largest economy in the next decade, Europe’s engagement with China is critical during this transition phase for a number of reasons, write Javier Solana and Kevin Rudd. READ MORE

Kazakhstan's Defence Minister Adilbek Dzhaksybekov met with the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the NATO for the Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai and a new NATO officer on interaction with Central Asia Alexander Vinnikov. READ MORE

On 3 April in Vilnius, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius met with the Turkish Minister for European Union Affairs and Chief negotiator Egemen Bağiş to discuss the development of bilateral relations. Both sides agreed on intensifying the cooperation concerning EU agenda during Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. READ MORE

In Russia, Eurasia is usually assumed to mean the post-Soviet space. The integration project Moscow has been actively promoting over the past four years is even called the Eurasian Union. However, the interpretation of Eurasia as the territory of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union is now outdated. READ MORE

Russia has a few interests at stake in the European Union bailout for Cyprus. The first and most obvious is that Russian citizens stand to lose billions of dollars worth of savings in Cyprus’s banking sector, which serves as a low-tax haven for Russian oligarchs. Those oligarchs, remember, wield outsize political power within Russia. The second is that Cyprus is a political client state of Moscow’s, a helpful little ally on such matters as sending arms to Syria. The third is symbolic, and doesn’t actually have that much to do with Cyprus itself, but with Russia’s standing in Europe. READ MORE