Russian energy major Gazprom has drawn the criticism of Turkish oil major BOTAS, which alleges that the Kremlin-supported entity has been using price increases to put pressure on Turkish firms. Officials from private Turkish oil and gas firms have expressed similar discontent with Gazprom, which they accuse of raising gas prices in order to induce…
Fighting in the eastern Ukrainian town of Debaltseve has raged on despite a tenuous cease fire agreement struck in Minsk last week. The New York Times reports that up to 8,000 Ukrainian forces currently find themselves trapped in the area surrounding Debaltseve. Reports describing the area as lost to the Ukrainian military were seemingly substantiated…
Kazakhstan appears poised to hold a snap presidential election. The group that govern the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan (APK),the organization that represents Kazakhstan’s ethnic groups, has called for the election on the grounds that holding it now would allow Kazakh president for life Nursultan Nazarbayev to focus on issues most pressing to the country.…
Meetings in Minsk between leaders from France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine continued throughout the night on Monday and through much of the day on Tuesday as leaders attempt to craft a lasting cease fire agreement. The Ukrainian side, for one, has been optimistic in its predictions, with President Petro Poroshenko stating that he was certain…
The European Union will delay the continuance of sanctions against Russia by one week. The decision was made by the foreign ministers of the European Union in order to encourage successful peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, set to begin tomorrow in Minsk. The EU’s decision to forestall sanctions coincides with declarations made by German…
The value of the Ukrainian hryvynia plummeted yesterday after the Ukrainian central bank decided to raise interest rates and take steps towards adopting a free floating currency, losing nearly 30% of its value. The decision to abandon currency saving measures such as auctions of foreign currency has been widely criticized by the Ukrainian populace, though…
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently paid visits to the country’s leading political and judiciary figures to gauge their reactions to perceived advances in the country’s nuclear talks with the West. The reaction, perhaps surprisingly, has been positive, albeit cautious, and one of the country’s leading hardliners, Ali Larijani, has declared himself “not pessimistic” about the…
Foreign ministers representing the European Union countries agreed to extend existing sanctions against Russia for an additional six months. The extension continues a set of sweeping sanctions that affect Russian companies and individuals to the end of restricting their ability to interact with Western financial systems. The European Union did not, however, agree not to…
Russian energy major Gazprom announced plans to begin supplying Turkey with natural gas in December of 2016. Gazprom’s plan, as outlined by chief Alexei Miller, is to route approximately 63 billion cubic meters of gas per annum underneath the Black Sea and into Turkey, which would then route it to European markets should the EU…
Law enforcement officials at the FBI announced that they have disrupted an alleged Russian-led spy ring operating out of New York City suburbs. The spy ring is purported to have been led by several different Russian agents operating under diverse identities in and around New York City, and that their activities included alleged attempts to…
STEPPE DISPATCHES 