Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia began two days of talks Friday outside Berlin, with Russia asking Germany, and German companies, to help with modernization.

• June 7, 2010

When Vladimir Putin traveled to Guatemala three years ago to personally promote Russia's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, he pledged the Games in Sochi would be "safe, enjoyable, and memorable."

• June 7, 2010

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here today to express U.S. gratitude to this former Soviet republic on the western shore of the Caspian Sea for its contributions to the coalition’s efforts in Afghanistan.

• June 7, 2010

Iran hopes to finalise a deal this week for a much-delayed pipeline to export natural gas to Pakistan by 2015, an energy official said on Sunday.

• June 7, 2010

A year ago, the Kremlin issued a stark warning: that growing competition for control of global energy resources could spark wars on Russia's borders, including those in Central Asia.

• June 3, 2010

NATO soldiers marching in Red Square on V-E Day; Moscow agreeing on a compromise resolution of the 40-year-old sea-boundary dispute with Norway; the sight of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin kneeling at the memorial to the Polish officers murdered by Josef Stalin at Katyn: These are a few glimpses of what a European newspaper described as a kinder, gentler Russia. But three questions immediately arise: Is this real? Why the change? And how to respond to Russia's new foreign policy?

• June 3, 2010

While its relations with Israel continue to plummet to new depths in the wake of the Gaza flotilla raid, Turkey is considering how to handle the US as Washington tries to balance its ties with Jerusalem and Ankara.

• June 3, 2010

The annual report of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute says that the world has never spent more on defense, in spite of the global financial crisis.

• June 3, 2010