Turkey and Brazil are trying to revive a stalled atomic fuel deal with Iran in an attempt to help the Islamic Republic avoid new UN sanctions over its nuclear program, Western diplomats said . READ MORE

Turkey, Russia signed a $20 billion deal on Wednesday to build a nuclear power plant with four reactors in Turkey. READ MORE

Astana has promised to open Kazakhstan’s border with Kyrgyzstan almost one month after the violent regime change in Bishkek. Astana remained reluctant to re-open the border despite numerous pleas from the Kyrgyz. The cost of the closed border was high – Kyrgyz businesses claim millions of dollars in losses. As Chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Kazakhstan has also pledged that it will work on a special strategy to help stabilize Kyrgyzstan. READ MORE

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov warned that Iran will face serious consequences if keeps acting freely within a nuclear issue. Russia also declared that it doesn’t support the final document adopted during the international conference on nuclear disarmament in Teheran. At the background of the development of new UN sanctions to be imposed towards Iran, the tension in the relations of Moscow and Teheran attracted a special focus of international community. READ MORE

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose visit to Turkey begins today, wrote an article for Today’s Zaman ahead of his visit. Turkey and Russia will discuss plans to introduce a visa-free regime and ways to deepen cooperation in energy, economy, agriculture and security, in addition to political ties, during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Turkey. READ MORE

The European Commission has no objections to Russia's proposed takeover of Ukraine's national gas company, despite warnings that it would harm EU interests. READ MORE

The Institute of World Policy warns the leaders of Ukraine from taking measures, which could significantly undermine Ukraine’s credibility as a member of the international community, namely, the recognition of alleged independence of two separatist entities, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. READ MORE

As the Kremlin intensified its efforts to develop relations with Uzbekistan, the leadership of the most populous nation in Central Asia appears to remain non-committal. Following talks in Moscow, Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, and his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov, hailed the bilateral summit on April 19-20 as a move towards strengthening the partnership. Russia and Uzbekistan remain strategic partners, Medvedev reportedly commented. READ MORE

The Eastern Partnership programme embodies a shift into a new stage of the European Union’s relations with its neighbours in the East and is an important tool for promoting reforms in these countries and their economic integration, and for helping them to facilitate the movement of persons, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis says on the occasion of a one-year anniversary of the Eastern Partnership programme. The programme was announced on 7 May last year in Prague. READ MORE

There's been some disquiet lately about the state of US-EU relations with Obama cancelling his participation at an upcoming EU-US summit. Still, the US ambassador to the EU says the relationship between the two is fine. READ MORE