Russia’s fleet of icebreakers and Arctic capable ships have a unique ability to transport goods from Northern Europe to East Asia. During the Eastern Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin held talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in about the possibility of a free trade agreement between Seoul and the Russian led Eurasian Economic Union.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, walks past an honour guard before a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Michel Temer at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, June 21, 2017. (Sergei Karpukhin/AP)
A new bill introduced by US legislators seeks to impose new economic sanctions against Russia, including North Korea and Iran. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects the bill to become law, pending approval from US President Donald Trump.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the anti-Russian sanctions recently passed by the US Senate will put a further strain on already difficult bilateral US-Russian relations.
This has come as for the first time since 2014, major EU countries have spoken vocally against American attempts to pass further sanctions on Russia. This is not due to some sudden shift in ideology but due to the fact that the sanctions would impact European companies working with Russia, including on the important Nord Strem 2 gas pipeline.
RT | April 30, 2013
Seeking to expand in its export markets, Russia’s gas major Gazprom is now looking to develop terminals to process liquefied natural gas as well as distribution networks in Japan.
Japan is largely dependent on gas exports, as the country consumes above 100 billion cubic metres of gas a year while producing domestically no more than 4 billion. Since the Fukushima disaster in 2011 Japan is seeing a greater need for gas.
