Russia, Spain to sign Afghan transit deal next week

July 3rd, 2009 MOSCOW - Moscow and Washington will sign deals expanding bilateral military ties and on transit of military supplies via Russia to the American troops in Afghanistan during President Barack Obama's visit to the Russian capital, an official said Friday. The signing of the pacts will reflect "the political decision on the resumption of full-scale military contacts between Russia and the United States", which were frozen after the war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia last year, Kremlin aide Sergei Prikhodko has said.

June 29th, 2009 Russia, Azerbaijan expected to agree new gas dealMOSCOW — Russia's president was expected to clinch a major new natural gas deal with Azerbaijan on Monday, dealing another blow to Western efforts to find alternates to Russia for energy supplies. Dmitry Medvedev was to travel to the Azerbaijani capital Baku, along with the chief of Russia's state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, to oversee the deal's signing.

April 22nd, 2009 ALMATY - The US and Tajikistan have reached a deal on sending non-military cargo through Tajik territory to neighbouring Afghanistan, according to reports reaching here Tuesday. Within one or two months, the US should be allowed to send non-military supplies to Afghanistan, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said in Tajik capital Dushanbe.

March 25th, 2009 MOSCOW - Joining the international community's concern over the increasing extremism in Pakistan and its precarious political situation, Russia has said that peace can not be established in Afghanistan until Pakistan is stabilized. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Sergei Ivanov said that Moscow is 'very much concerned' about the security of Pakistan's nuclear armaments.

March 5th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladeshi and Indian officials will meet here later this month to renew their inland water transit and trade deal. The current deal expires March 31.

February 13th, 2009 MOSCOW - The US will send a consignment of non-military supplies to Afghanistan via Russian territory in the next few days, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. The announcement comes a little more than a week after Washington requested Moscow's permission to send several containers of non-military cargoes to Afghanistan via Russia.

February 3rd, 2009 DHAKA - Five days ahead of Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit here, Bangladesh Wednesday said it was ready to provide transit facilities to India, a move that would help New Delhi trim its mounting trade deficit. Dhaka has had reservations about a transit pact, a long-pending demand of India, for economic and security reasons.

February 3rd, 2009 DHAKA - Five days ahead of Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit here, Bangladesh has said it is ready to provide transit facility to its neighbour's northeastern region. 'I see no reason why we should not give transit (to India),' Commerce Minister, Col.

January 25th, 2009 MELBOURNE - The following are the results of the fourth round of the $15.5 million Australian Open here Monday: Women's singles, fourth round: Serena Williams, 2, US, def. Victoria Azarenka, 13, Belarus, 3-6,4-2, retired (illness); Elena Dementieva, 4, Russia, def.

January 23rd, 2009 TASHKENT - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that Moscow is ready to cooperate with NATO on the Afghan issue, even as he has welcomed US President Barack Obama's plans to review US policy in the war-ravaged nation. 'We hope the new US administration will have greater success than the previous one in resolving the Afghanistan issue,' Medvedev said Friday on the second day of his two-day visit to Uzbekistan.

January 18th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia's energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's energy company Naftogaz Monday signed a new contract on Russian gas supplies to Ukraine. Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Moscow and Kiev had reached agreement on all issues of gas transit and supplies.

January 17th, 2009 MOSCOW - Gazprom is preparing documents on gas supplies to Ukraine and gas transit to Europe for signing Monday, the Russian energy giant said Sunday. 'We are working to ensure that the documents are signed Monday,' Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said.

January 15th, 2009 Novo-OGARYOVO - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed to the European Union (EU) to set up a consortium to buy from its energy giant Gazprom the amount of gas that Ukraine says is necessary to resume transit to Europe. 'We are proposing that our European partners share the risks and set up an international consortium that could buy from Gazprom the necessary amount of gas and immediately send it to Ukraine to secure gas transit to Europe,' Putin said Thursday.

January 13th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russian gas has been stolen after being pumped into Ukraine's gas transportation system, an official spokesman for Russian energy giant Gazprom has said. Under Monday's deal with the European Union (EU) and Ukraine, Gazprom Tuesday resumed pumping gas into Ukraine for transit to Europe.

January 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US government has urged Russia to immediately restore gas supply via Ukraine to the European Union (EU). 'The US welcomes the agreement brokered by the Czech presidency of the EU to enable the restoration of gas flows to European customers and provide greater transparency along the transit route,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday.