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Moscow halts petrol to Bishkek over nationalization row

In what could be a new fight over export duties, Russia has stopped transporting petrol fuel to Kyrgyzstan as of Feb. 15, after the Kyrgyz government decided to nationalize one of its largest telecom companies. READ MORE

Sinan Ogan on visit of Recep Tayiip Erdogan in Moscow

By Eugene Krishtalyov

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayiip Erdogan arrives in Moscow on March 15 on an official visit-This event is to become historic, because the visit will coincide with the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the renewed Russia and Turkey after WWI. The director of the Turkish Centre for International Relations and Strategic Analysis, Sinan Ogan, told the VK correspondent about the visit and its context. READ MORE

China, Russia Lead UN Initiative to Stabilize Somalia, Fight Piracy Threat

By Bill Varner

China and Russia are leading a new effort at the United Nations to curb the threat of piracy off the coast of Somalia and defeat al-Qaeda-linked terrorists fighting to seize control of the Horn of Africa nation. READ MORE

Tajiks likely to grant Russia access to Ayni air base, says analyst

By Martin Sieff

Russia looks to be beating out the United States and India to win the use of Tajikistan's Ayni air base. READ MORE

Putin in Brussels, and what it could mean for Libya

By Peter Spiegel

Vladimir Putin and 12 of his ministers blew through Brussels Thursday, reiterating many of their long-stated complaints about the European Union’s energy policies, which Russian leaders believe discriminate against Russian energy giant Gazprom. READ MORE

“Gazprom” Promises to Raise Exports Costs

By Sergey Kulikov

The Group of Companies Plans to Increase Supplies of More Expensive Gas. READ MORE

A difficult balancing act for head of Gazprom

Alexei Miller has to champion natural gas, while playing down price pressure from alternative supplies, says Sarah Arnott. READ MORE

Kazakhstan: Russia Worries that Customs Union Outpost is Smugglers’ Paradise

By Richard Orange

A line of 150 trucks waits to enter Kazakhstan. It takes so long to clear customs here that each rig usually only makes two round trips a month. And yet, contrary to appearances, documentary discrepancies suggest the checkpoint is a smuggler’s paradise. READ MORE

Experts: Lithuania Is the Only Baltic State with Ambitions

By Konstantin Ameliushkin

Russia has no long-term strategy concerning Lithuania and Baltic states in general. Energy and history – these are two issues, which could become a platform for relations development. These are the ideas of the experts of Russian Center Carnegie Andrey Riabov, Lilia Shevtsova and Maria Lipman. According to the experts, among Baltic states only Lithuania has ambitions within not only regional level, but whole Europe. After the meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister of Lithuania Audronius Ažubalis, experts answered the questions of Lithuanian reporters. READ MORE

U.S. Blocking NATO-CSTO Cooperation

By Joshua Kucera

NATO's General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen was ready to propose new cooperation between NATO and the Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) -- until the U.S. intervened to thwart Rasmussen's initiative. That's the suggestion of a U.S. State Department cable, released by WikiLeaks via the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten. READ MORE