Russia said on Thursday it suspected Turkey was preparing a military incursion into Syria, as a Syrian army source said Aleppo would soon be encircled by government forces with Russian air support.

• Date: 04.02.2016  |  Published on EGF: 04.02.2016  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com

Oil futures surged on Wednesday after Russia indicated there was a possibility of co-operation with OPEC, fanning hopes for a deal to reduce a global oversupply that sent prices to the lowest levels in over a dozen years last week.

• Date: 28.01.2016  |  Published on EGF: 27.01.2016  |  Energy  |  from http://www.reuters.com

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and top non-OPEC producer Russia are showing signs of flexibility about agreeing to tackle an oil glut that has pushed prices to 12-year lows, the oil minister of Iraq said on Tuesday.

• Date: 26.01.2016  |  Published on EGF: 26.01.2016  |  Energy  |  from http://www.reuters.com

The head of Russia's Security Council said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday that the United States wanted a weakened Russia so as to gain access to its vast mineral resources.

• Date: 26.01.2016  |  Published on EGF: 26.01.2016  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com

Ukraine plans soon to launch a fresh diplomatic initiative to recover the Crimean peninsula from Russia which annexed it in 2014, Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko told Reuters on Wednesday.

• Date: 20.01.2016  |  Published on EGF: 20.01.2016  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com

A Ukrainian government order to cut off trade with the Russian-annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea has come into effect.

• Date: 19.01.2016  |  Published on EGF: 19.01.2016  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.rferl.org/

Love him or hate him, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military intervention in Syria unquestionably upended Middle Eastern politics. Putin supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, established several military bases in Syria, created a de-facto Russian-Shi’ite axis, confronted Turkey and forced the West to re-engage with him.

• Date: 14.01.2016  |  Published on EGF: 14.01.2016  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.reuters.com

Ukraine says it will for the first time ship goods to Kazakhstan along a route bypassing Russia, due to the Kremlin’s trade embargo on Kyiv.

• Date: 13.01.2016  |  Published on EGF: 12.01.2016  |  External Relations  |  from http://www.rferl.org