Russia is currently engaged in negotiations with Iran on “energy development.” Encapsulated in a recently announced agreement to build two nuclear power plants in Iranian territory last week after Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif visited Moscow. This past Monday, Iran’s negotiator for nuclear talks, Abbas Aragchi, expressed his extreme disappointment with the Obama administration adding…
The souring of US-Russia relations continued yesterday, as U.S. President Obama, speaking at a NATO in Wales, urged NATO to train and arm the Ukrainian military to defend itself from Russia. The American president described Russian activity in Ukraine as a “brazen assault” on Ukraine, and called for members of NATO to consider the accession…
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has proclaimed that Russia has undertaken an incursion onto Ukrainian soil, and ordered that a draft of Ukrainian citizens be instituted as the situation in Eastern Ukraine worsens. Pro-Ukraine media sources within Russia have estimated the invading force at 15,000, although these estimates have been denied by a number of Western…
Iran has shown every indication that it will comply with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) protocols, as stipulated in the interim nuclear deal agreed on this past November. The IAEA’s director general went as far as to say that officials in Tehran have been “useful” and lauded the Gulf state for its cooperation in every…
Russian authorities, in an escalating war of economic sanctions, have instituted a ban on importations of food and agricultural products from Europe and the United States, as well as some of their allies who supported sanctions against Russia. Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev announced that all beef, pork, fish, fruit, vegetable, and dairy products from the…
US President Obama has decided to increase sanctions against Russia by targeting large banks that support large energy and defense firms. Instead of targeting individuals connected with Russian support of operations in Ukraine and Putin’s inner circle, this new move is far more sweeping. According to White House statements, it will not cut off entire…
STEPPE DISPATCHES 