Karabakh conflict

Angela Khachatryan, the Zhamanak (Time), www.1in.am portal (Armenia)
- Mr. Terterov, what effect can the crisis in Europe have on the countries of association partners to the EU, of which Armenia is one?

MT: I think the main point to take here is the question of whether countries in the EU’s Eastern Partnership framework, or those coming into the wider-European Neighbourhood context, are a priority for EU external relations strategies. Clearly, some countries come higher up the EU pegging order than others. This also depends on which EU member states holds important positions in the EU institutions, including the rotational presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the foreign policy strategies which those countries entertain. Clearly, when France holds the presidency, one can assume that greater EU external policy resources will be directed towards the South Bank Mediterranean countries. This is also likely to be the case even more so now with the EU having to show its “interest” in the region in way of developments associated with the Arab Spring. When Poland, for example, holds the presidency, it is likely greater EU foreign policy resources will be directed towards Ukraine and Belarus. READ MORE

• February 5, 2012

Syrian forces hammered restive neighbourhoods in the city of Homs for hours with mortars and artillery before dawn Saturday, sending terrified residents fleeing into basements and killing more than 200 people in the bloodiest episode of the nearly 11-month-old uprising, activists said.

• February 4, 2012

Russia's supplies of natural gas to Bulgaria and neighbouring Greece, Turkey and Macedonia are back to normal, Bulgaria's economy and energy ministry said on Saturday.

• February 4, 2012

The flow of natural gas has fallen off sharply in the main pipelines supplying Europe from Russia, but this time cold weather — not politics — is to blame.

• February 4, 2012

German Chancellor Angela Merkel should raise urgent human rights concerns with the Kazakhstan government during talks with President Nursultan Nazarbaev on February 8, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today. Nazarbaev is scheduled to meet the chancellor in Berlin to discuss bilateral cooperation and energy issues, and to sign a strategic energy and raw materials partnership agreement.

• February 4, 2012

Kazakh and Uzbek state gas companies Kaztransgaz and Uztransgaz may stop gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan if the country does not pay off the debt for gas supplies till Feb. 10, KyrTAG quoted Eugenie Orlenko, deputy director of Kyrgyzgaz Company, as saying on Friday.

• February 3, 2012

Squeezed supply of Russian gas to some EU countries fell further on Friday, the European Union's executive said, but added the situation had not reached emergency levels despite freezing temperatures gripping much of Europe.

• February 3, 2012

Russian gas supplies to Turkey are expected to return to normal levels today after a drop of more than 30 percent due to problems in transit countries for cross-border pipeline, Turkish energy officials told Reuters on Friday.

• February 3, 2012