On 1 June in Vienna, Lithuanian and Kazakh diplomats started a two-week long training, thus preparing to chair the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The training is organised by the Centre for OSCE Research, which is part of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg. READ MORE

Gazprom has gone from being a great commercial hope to an ailing giant. Gazprom`s owners need to face up to the crisis and institute reforms. READ MORE

The end of the “five-days war” and Russian recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence gave a new powerful impulse for the discussion of the Caucasian region future. International summits, conferences, official visits and informal consultations go on almost non-stop. And sometimes it is pretty difficult tell progress from “diplomatic tourism”. READ MORE

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday called on the international community to help Ukraine finance its gas bill so as to avoid a fresh gas war. Ukraine is due to pay its bill for Russian gas intended for domestic consumption and stocking in underground reservoirs on June 7, Putin said in a statement posted on his website. READ MORE

Belarus`s president declared an end on May 29 to "begging" to Russia and told his government to ignore Moscow`s decision to shelve a $500 million loan and turn elsewhere to find credits. Alyaksandr Lukashenka made his comments a day after Russia`s finance minister said the funds were no longer on offer as its smaller Western neighbor -- linked by a "union treaty" since the 1990s -- could be insolvent by the end of the year. READ MORE

The expertise of potential incomes from transit traffic through the territory of Kazakhstan comprises about 2 billion USD. However, yet this lot is more like a ripe apple beyond the reach of native specialists in transport and logistics. A part of them think, that the fruit has already been gathered by China. READ MORE

On 28 May, consultations on the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region were held in Vilnius at the initiative of Lithuania and Sweden. Lithuania was represented by Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Žygimantas Pavilionis and Sweden by State Secretary for the European Union at the Office of the Prime Minister of Sweden Maria Asenius. Officials from the European Commission, Foreign Ministries of Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Finland and Germany took part in the consultations. READ MORE

The Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council, Greek Ambassador Mara Marinaki, said the OSCE Chairmanship had suspended negotiations on a continued OSCE presence in Georgia until further notice. READ MORE

The true mettle of the Sino-European relationship lies in China’s bilateral relationships with the UK, Germany and France. If the European Union is to forge its own effective relationship with Beijing, it must move member-states beyond their own separate-track approaches to China. READ MORE