US President Trump has agreed to purchase 3 million tonnes of diesel oil from Russia to alliveviate American shortages, in moves that have shocked Europe and Ukraine. We examine what the deal actually involves, the value, and the implications for US-Russia and US-Europe-Ukrane political relations moving ahead.
Sberbank has completed preparations for direct financial settlements with Myanmar, which will support major state contracts and commodity flows. Financial settlements for commodity exports and imports of agricultural products, fertilizers and mechanical engineering will also use the system. The development negates the use of SWIFT and the US dollar as payment tools, while a key element of the scheme is Sberbank’s Indian branch, which provides access to payments in Indian rupees and connects Myanmar companies with Russia, India and the Commonwealth of Independent States markets.
Kuibyshev Railways and the Deng Xiaoping Terminal in Russia’s Tatarstan region has sent its first container train of wheat by rail to Vietnam. The train, consisting of 76 containers with 2,000 tonnes of wheat, departed from the hub’s One Belt One Road terminal, and will finish its journey in Vladivostok. From there, the containers will be sent to Vietnam by sea.
Belarus is shipping exports to Indonesia via Vladivostok, after the two countries were united via a Free Trade Agreement through the Eurasian Economic Union. Bilateral trade volumes are relatively small at US$220 million in 2025 but this is expected to double in the next two years.
The Russian and Turkmenistan Presidents have held a bilateral meeting at Avaza, a national tourist zone on Turkmenistan’s Caspian coast, located near the city of Turkmenbashi. Current bilateral trade is about US$2.5 billion and has been growing significantly the past two years. Both governments have set a target to double trade by 2030. We discuss the bilateral trade makeup.
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Wildberries are investing US$300 million into a Class A logistics centre in Tashkent, with a view to develop it as a hub for Central Asian e-commerce markets. The value of Russian-Uzbek cooperation projects currently includes more than 200 investments worth about US$6 billion.
Mali’s Transport and Logistics Company has signed a US$51.5 million deal with KAMAZ to buy a range of trucks to improve its transport and logistics infrastructure. The deal provides the vehicles and could be extended to localise production and train maintenance engineers.
Rosatom are gradually firing up the Tainwan Unit 7 NPP in China, with the first electricity production already entering the Chinese national grid. When fully operational in late 2027, Tianwan will be the world’s largest nuclear power plant, with generation capacity exceeding 9,000 MWe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has held an intensive Q&A session at the recent Valdai Club event in Moscow. He covered multiple issues including the differences between the collapse of the USSR and the current situation within Russia, Kaliningrad, the use of nuclear weapons, NATO, the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Russian prior attempts to integrate into Europe, the international maritime rule of law, Iran, the development of the Donbass, China, differences between Russia and Chinese culture, Japan, President Trump, Serbia, India, nuclear proliferation, Italy, the European Union, EU asset returns, a new Iron Curtain, Palestine, BRICS, APEC, Israel, Artificial Intelligence, UN reform, the Northern Sea Route, the Russian economy, Russia-Africa relations, Switzerland, Ukraine, updates on the Ukraine conflict and the potential for movement into a new political direction. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Russia’s global views on Russian and international affairs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has provided his annual speech at this years Valdai Discussion Club, focussing on the trend towards multipolarity, the need for reform at the United Nations, the concept of sovereignty, BRICS, international law, Ukraine, the USSR, Artificial Intelligence, and the Greater Eurasian Partnership. We also provide analysis on what was said. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Moscow’s current thinking as concerns global affairs.
Intra-Eurasian Economic Union trade has grown by 10% in 7M this year. The bloc includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, filling the geographic space between Eastern Europe and Western China. If this growth continues for the rest of 2026, multilateral trade values would surpass US$100 billion for the first time.
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