About: Putin Archives

EU leaders concluded their two-day summit today (15 March) with an informal discussion on Russia, largely intended as a brainstorming session to prepare an EU visit to Moscow next week aimed at ‘exploring areas of mutual interest'. Much of the debate focused on energy, which EU leaders will discuss during a special summit on 24 May.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych hinted that he might be ready to cede some control of his country's gas pipeline system that transports Russian gas to Europe ahead of a meeting today (4 March) with his Russian counterpart.

Politically correct rhetoric of recent addresses from Russian President Vladimir Putin and his focus on problems in Russia and post-Soviet space may be attributed to the objective lack of foreign partners to form a global strategic agenda, writes Lidiya Smola.

For experts and analysts, the new year traditionally begins with the definition of the main trends of social, political and economic development. Actions in Ukraine show that some trends will have significant implications for the Ukrainian society, argues Lidiya Smola.

The EU-Russia summit ended today (21 December) with no major decisions, but Russian President Vladimir Putin staged a show for the press, telling Commission President José Manuel Barroso that he was “not right” in his interpretation of energy liberalisation rules.

The Eurasian Union is surely Russia’s most ambitious political programme since the end of the Soviet Union, writes Liana Fix. As Putin’s own brainchild, it is likely to become one of the top priorities of his presidency, she argues.

Ukraine's president pulled out of gas price talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the last minute on Tuesday (18 December), raising concern about the reliability of supplies to Europe before a Russia-EU summit.

In the lead-up to the creation of a Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), foreseen for 2015, the Customs Union (CU) and the Common Economic Space (CES) between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan represent two elements of the most ambitious regional integration projects launched in the post-Soviet space since 1991, write Steven Blockmans, Hrant Kostanyan and Ievgen Vorobiov.

The human rights situation in the EU has deteriorated with the economic crisis, a Russian envoy said yesterday (6 December), citing xenophobia, racism, violent nationalism, police abuse and neo-Nazism among others. “We believe that nobody should have the monopoly to assess the human rights situation in other countries,” the envoy insisted.

The EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed concern yesterday (25 October) over Russia's recent adoption of a Cold War-style law, which could potentially imprison citizens in contact with foreigners for up to 20 years.

BP is ending a stormy relationship with Russian tycoons from a company known as AAR and is instead targeting a partnership with government-owned Rosneft. The deal, worth over $25 billion (€19.18 billion) could give the British oil company a stake of between 16% and 20% in the Russian oil giant. 

With a eurozone crisis and other challenges to deal with, why has German Chancellor Angela Merkel taken such an interest in tiny Moldova? One reason is that Moldova is sitting on the borders of the EU and the unresolved conflict there remains dangerous and unstable. Another is that Merkel wanted to use the frozen conflict in Transnistria as a test case for Berlin’s relations with the Kremlin, writes Judy Dempsey.

Russia officially joined the World Trade Organization today (22 August), ending a 19-year wait to become part of the global club.

Europe and the United States condemned Russia over the two-year prison sentences handed down to three members of the Pussy Riot punk band, while protestors took to the streets in 60 cities around the world after the verdict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to lower the price of gas for Ukraine yesterday (12 July) during his first visit to the former Soviet republic since returning to the Kremlin in May, a meeting which Kyiv had hoped would resolve the energy stalemate.

In a major speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, also known as “the Russian Davos”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had appointed an ombudsman to help Western entrepreneurs.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin made it clear that his country cannot advance negotiations on a new basic treaty with the EU, unless Brussels formalises relations with the so-called "Common Economic Space" - its Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. 
 

Russian President Vladimir Putin's stance on Syria will be in the spotlight today (4 June) at his first summit with the EU since he returned to the Kremlin last month.

The Russian Ambassador to the EU slammed the bloc's inability “to move backwards” on some issues, but also pleaded for reaping the complementarity of European and Russian economies. The remarks were made yesterday (29 May) at a briefing in preparation of the 3-4 June EU-Russia summit.

The transcript of a discussion between new Serbian President Tomislav Nikoli? and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin appears to suggest that Moscow is preparing to work with a government led by Nikoli?'s rival, former President Boris Tadi?, as Prime Minister.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was inaugurated for a new six-year mandate on 7 May, has signed ambitious decrees, but very little is expected to change in the way the country will deal with foreign investors, argues Bogdan Sumenko.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said his country was “taken hostage” over the case of his imprisoned predecessor, Yulia Tymoshenko, which he said was overblown because of a “foreign plot” to prevent the country from getting closer to the EU.

EU ministers held an animated discussion in Brussels yesterday (14 May), evaluating the risks of “losing Ukraine to Russia” if too much pressure is put on the country over the treatment of imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Moscow will seek closer ties with the United States but will not tolerate interference in its affairs and wants guarantees a US missile shield will not be used against Russia, under terms of a decree signed by Vladimir Putin yesterday, as he took office as President (7 May) for the third time.