Officials from Russia and the European Commission yesterday (22 November) marked the 10-year anniversary of EU-Russia energy dialogue and devised ways to overcome the present "lack of trust," as Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko described the state of relations.

The European Union's plans to break up energy monopolies pose a direct threat to Russia's own hopes to maintain and enlarge its domination of energy markets in several EU member states, says Eugene Chausovsky. More »

In contrast to the growing international concern over Russia, public support within the country for Russia's current course is stronger than at any time since the fall of the USSR and views of the US have reached new lows, according to opinion polls taken since the war in the Caucasus

Between Russia and the Middle East, the Caucasus is one of the world's most diverse regions - and as recent fighting in South Ossetia and Abkhazia showed, still boiling with ethnic tensions. Norman Stone reviews a history which makes sense of this complexity The Ghost of Freedom: a History of the Caucasus Charles King OUP, 219pp, £17.99 A Georgian professor came to my (Turkish) universi...

A series of attacks in Russia's troubled North Caucasus left three people dead and four injured, officials said Monday.

When Germany votes Sept. 27, the choices could include a government with fewer ambiguities about where it stands on Russia and a plan for taking a less dependent path on energy supply.

Azerbaijan's energy resources remain a valuable prize. Evidence of this is the tug-of-war between Russia and Europe over natural gas.

The first thing to understand about the war between Russia and Georgia is that Georgia has lost. As Doug Muir explains, seizing South Ossetia required the quick severing, and then holding, of a single key route leading from the Caucasus peaks to the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. A look at the terrain tells the tale: Tskhinvali’s north side is to the mountains, and its south faces tow...

George Handlery about the week that was. The Ossetes and the Abkhaz are saved: who will now save them from Russia? Order in the Caucasus not by kicking ass but by crushing skulls. Excuses regarding sanctions: we are prepared do anything to be able to do nothing. A brilliant insight: some terrorist trainees might become Quakers. The „Dictator‘s tantrum #3.   1. It is understandable...

Notably this comment, by one Carl, over at The Spectator's Coffee House blog: 1. Georgia overplayed its hand. Saakhashvili foolishly believed the US/NATO was willing and able to stand up to Russia militarily in the Caucasus, an area Russia rightly considers its near abroad. Furthermore, the US is already stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq and the other NATO members do not have the stones to ta...