Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Thu, 3rd May -- With relations between the two countries continuing to thaw, Russia's Mobile Tele Systems says it is planning to return to Turkmenistan close to 18 months after it's operations in the country were closed down by the authorities.

Graham Stack in Kyiv
Thu, 3rd May -- The Russian government announced on May 2 that it has finally pushed through a decision on hiking taxes for the gas sector. The move hit share prices hard, but could signal a massive shift in the structure of the Russian gas sector towards liberalisation.

Graham Stack in Kyiv
Thu, 3rd May -- Jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko's hunger strike could escalate into an international crisis as she fights major new charges being brought against her, while the country prepares to host the Euro 2012 football championships in June.

Tim Gosling in Prague
Wed, 2nd May -- The integration of the Czech and Polish gas pipeline networks is to be deepened under the auspices of the wider EU drive to reduce reliance on Russian imports, with a new inter-connector planned to boost the capacity of gas flows. At the same time, Polish gas transit system operator Gaz-System suggested it may bid for its Czech counterpart Net4Gas, which is currently up for grabs, local media reported on April 30.

Graham Stack in Kyiv
Wed, 2nd May -- Chinese companies signed 27 agreements totaling $15bn with Russian partners at a Russian-Chinese forum April 29. The largest projects will focus on Siberia and Russia's Far East.

Liam Halligan of Prosperity Capital Management
Wed, 2nd May -- Mainstream opinion has it that "capital is quitting Russia by the bucket-load". The reality is, though, that there are many ways to interpret these numbers and, on balance, the outflow data overwhelmingly point to financial and commercial phenomena, which reflect Russia's growing economic strength.

Anna Kravchenko in Moscow
Mon, 30th Apr -- In April, Germany became the latest source of investment for Russia's budding e-commerce market. Germany's Bonial International Group has teamed up with Russia's leading internet firm incubator Fast Lane Ventures to create Lokata - a location-based service combining retailers' virtual catalogues, maps, and offline shop details.

bne
Thu, 26th Apr -- State energy giants Rosneft and Eni signed off on a strategic partnership that will see the pair invest over $120bn in offshore oil and gas production in the Barents and Black Seas on April 25. The second such deal in as many weeks, Rosneft is motoring onwards with the state plan to open the Russian upstream segment up in return for expertise and technology.

Tim Gosling in Prague
Thu, 26th Apr -- Polish state-controlled refiner PKN Orlen has officially announced the (long-suspected) news that it is abandoning attempts to sell off its struggling Lithuanian plant Mazeikiu, and says it will now invest in upgrading the plant.

Tim Gosling in Prague
Tue, 24th Apr -- A week after bestowing on the Russian gas pipeline South Stream the status of "strategic" project, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban drove another nail into the coffin of the EU's rival pipeline Nabucco, describing that project as "in trouble" and claiming the Hungarian state-controlled energy firm Mol would pull out of it.

Graham Stack in Kyiv
Tue, 24th Apr -- Ukraine's two main opposition parties have signed an electoral pact agreeing to run a joint list of candidates going into parliamentary elections in October 2012. The question now is whether they will be able to get more opposition parties to join them.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Wed, 2nd May -- Investor Jim Rogers should rue the day he took on Dmitry Alimov, a 29-year-old Russian MBA student, during a talk he gave at Harvard Business School in 2003 when he disparaged Russia as a hopeless case just as the economy was starting a five-year boom. The irony is that Alimov is living testimony to the changes going on in the country.