Signing the EU-Ukraine association agreement in November hangs in the balance, Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. READ MORE

Kazakhstan is 'anchor of stability' in Eurasia READ MORE

Speech by NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow at the 2013 RUSI Missile Defence Conference, London – 12 june 2013 READ MORE

Germany blocked the next step in the European Union's membership talks with Turkey over Ankara's crackdown on anti-government protests. Berlin blocked the decision to open a new chapter in the long-running accession talks because “there are still open questions,” Associated Press reported, referring to a diplomat from an EU nation. READ MORE

Annual Summits of the states of Central and Eastern Europe gather the leaders of the countries of the region, which has the potential of not only consolidating role, but also to help Europe to find its place in the world after crisis. Such meetings are the only consultation forum of regional character, uniting the states located between Baltic Sea, Black Sea and the Adriatic, by this independently of that whether they are NATO, European Union, Euro zone or not. That is why they represent important international events, for example, two years ago in Warsaw, where 20 heads of the states were present. The US President Barak Obama was an honorable guest.  READ MORE

Despite a high rate of approval for the European project, Lithuanians appear to have little interest in the country’s first stint at leading the rotating presidency of the EU, starting 1 July, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius told  READ MORE

Former President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski is perplexed about why the Poles and the Lithuanians, just recently strategic partners, are at each other's throats over matters like spelling of names and learning official language. “I said many times [to Lithuania's Polish community]: you're Lithuanian citizens so you have to be loyal to your country and you have to speak Lithuanian,” the politician, who still remains a popular politician on this side of the border, said during an interview to 15min. READ MORE

The United States and European Union say they are starting talks on a new trans-Atlantic free trade agreement. READ MORE

According to the presidential decree, Kazakhstan began its transition to a "green economy" since the beginning of summer. According to the accepted concept, the country set a target to increase the share of alternative and renewable energy sources to 30 percent by 2030 and to 50 percent by 2050. Earlier, it was mentioned about the desire to develop the country's renewable energy sources. "Future energy" has been declared as the theme of "EXPO-2017" international exhibition. According to the topic, President Nazarbayev ordered to provide the "EXPO-2017" facilities with power at the expense of alternative energy sources. READ MORE

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, currently on a working visit to Slovakia, met with Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič. The meeting focused on priorities of the upcoming Lithuanian EU presidency, prospects for bilateral cooperation, and energy security issues. READ MORE

Taking over the EU Council Presidency, Lithuania will focus on pursing credible, growing and open Europe, country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius said at the launch event of the Official Guide to the Lithuanian EU Council Presidency, hosted by the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU together with Hill+Knowlton Strategies on 13 June. READ MORE

The visit of the Secretary of State Grigoriy Karasin, Vice Minister of the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Russian Federation to Tashkent became the continuation of the dialogue, started in Moscow this April by the Presidents Islam Karimov and Vladimir Putin. Then they signed a large set of documents on various spheres of cooperation – from economy to special services cooperation, up to 2017. Security and development of the total Central Asia region depends on its accomplishment. READ MORE

Lithuanian foreign affairs vice-minister Vytautas Leškevičius, while presenting the principal goals of the Lithuanian Presidency of the European Union (EU) Council in the Conference of Committee Chairs of the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg, stressed the importance of the cooperation of the EU institutions. READ MORE

The Chairman of NATO's Military Committee, General Knud Bartels, attended the 12th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Asia Security Summit ''The Shangri-La Dialogue 2013'' in Singapore from 31 May to 2 June. READ MORE

During the Cold War, Romania confused all of us. Long after brutality in other communist countries declined, Romania remained a state that employed levels of violence best compared to North Korea today. Nicolae Ceausescu, referred to by admirers as the Genius of the Carpathians, ruled Romania with a ruthless irrationality. Government policies left the country cold and dark, and everyday items readily available just a few kilometers south in Bulgaria were rarities in Romania. At the same time -- and this was the paradox -- Romania was hostile and uncooperative with the Soviets. Bucharest refused to submit to Moscow, and this did not compute for many of us. Resistance to Soviet power, in our minds, meant liberalization, like what we saw in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. But not in Romania; Romania played a different game. READ MORE

On May 23, Odesa hosted the next round of negotiations on the Transdniestrian settlement in the 5+2 format (Chisinau and Tiraspol as the parties to the conflict, Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as mediators, and the EU and the United States as observers). This is the second meeting that was held as part of Ukraine's chairmanship of the OSCE in 2013. READ MORE

There is a new turn in the case of the escaped Kazakhstani ex-banker Mukhtar Ablyazov. Ablyazov has blamed the authorities of Kazakhstan in kidnapping of his family from Italy. Rome still declares that the family of the escaped banker lived in the country under fake documents. READ MORE

Access to the Baltic Sea is important for Kazakhstan, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a press conference on Monday following a meeting with his Latvian counterpart Andris Berzins in Astana. READ MORE

Regional neighbors Islam Karimov and Nursultan Nazarbayev keep on reaching greater understanding and support of each other, the same they more often acknowledge the interdependence and acute need to strengthen the cooperation. READ MORE