Swiss commodities trader Trafigura is expanding its ties with Russia's Rosneft (ROSN.MM) and is set to become the biggest buyer from the sanctions-hit Kremlin oil major when it adds refined products to its already huge purchases of crude oil.

• December 21, 2015

India's prime minister is expected to promote deals for Russian nuclear reactors and military helicopters worth billions of dollars on a trip to Moscow next week, attracted by promises to transfer technology that Western nations have been slow to make.

• December 18, 2015

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered his government to suspend Russia's free trade zone with Ukraine from Jan. 1, making good on Moscow's threats to Kiev which seeks closer ties with the European Union.

• December 16, 2015

The leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) accused Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday of fuelling support for France's far-right National Front by insisting on tighter budgets during the euro zone crisis.

• December 12, 2015

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' governing majority is looking fragile as crunch time approaches for a pension reform that will test his resolve to impose painful measures to satisfy Athens' international creditors.

• December 11, 2015

Oil prices plummeted to their lowest levels since the depths of the global recession in February 2009 as investors braced for a flood of Iranian oil in an already glutted market.

• December 8, 2015

Kazakhstan has become the 162nd member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

• December 7, 2015

The International Monetary Fund on Monday, as expected, admitted China's yuan into its benchmark currency basket in a victory for Beijing's campaign for recognition as a global economic power.

• November 30, 2015