Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday confirmed the need for assurance that the US missile defense system is not in any way aimed at his country, reported local television.

• November 19, 2011

Defense ministers Safar Abiyev and Mikhail Yejel discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation, press service of the Ukrainian defense ministry said. They signed the bilateral cooperation and action plans for 2012.

• November 18, 2011

Italy, Japan and 10 other countries joined in on the draft resolution by the Iran Six that is expected to be submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors on Friday.

• November 18, 2011

Russia will support Kazakhstan and Belarus in their efforts to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) after Moscow itself joins the trade bloc, Russia's top WTO negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said

• November 17, 2011

The United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Thursday it wanted to send representatives to Iran to seek answers from the Islamic republic about a report containing intelligence that Tehran has worked on developing a nuclear weapon, dpa reported.

• November 17, 2011

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the law "On ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic on the provision of free military-technical assistance," the President's press service reported on Wednesday.

• November 16, 2011

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday denied pressuring Australia to reverse a ban on selling uranium to India but said he would "watch with interest" how the issue played out.

• November 16, 2011

The UN atomic watchdog's damning new report on Iran's nuclear programme has set the stage for a diplomatic showdown at IAEA headquarters this week, pitting Russia and China against Western powers.

• November 15, 2011