Russia & Caucasus

Bangladesh is building its first nuclear power plant.
Commodities

Uranium prices hit post-Fukushima high on nuclear power revival

Resurgent demand and limited supply combine to lift price by half this year

7 October 2023
Russian dancers perform at a restaurant in the Chinese city of Manzhouli. (Photo by Shin Watanabe)
Trade

China border city thrives as trade with Russia booms

Exports passing through Manzhouli said to have doubled

4 October 2023
President Vladimir Putin meets with Russian service personnel at the Kremlin in Moscow.
Ukraine war: Free to read

Ukraine Sept. 25 to Oct. 1: Putin signs decree calling up 130,000 in fall draft

U.S. government's temporary funding bill signed by Biden drops aid to Ukraine

2 October 2023
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addresses the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23. Russia's aggression against Ukraine is exposing problems with how the global body operates.
The Nikkei View

U.N. reform urgently needed to better promote peace

Security Council dysfunction threatens global security

27 September 2023
Wind turbines in Kazakhstan's Almaty region. Japan and five central Asian countries have inaugurated a new ministerial-level dialogue on decarbonization.
Climate Change

Japan launches new decarbonization dialogue with Central Asia

Tokyo aims to blunt Russian and Chinese influence in key region

27 September 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin talks to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome for space launches in the Amur area of the Russian Far East on Sept. 13. (Sputnik/Reuters)
Comment

Putin's inability to see reality leaves him as emperor without clothes

Russia turns to North Korea as its woes in Ukraine cool ties with Central Asia

26 September 2023
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a news conference after addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23.
24 September 2023
Estonian President Alar Karis says that the growing relationship between Russia and North Korea "doesn't make us very happy." (Photo by Mana Yumi)
Interview

Russia-North Korea nuclear cooperation danger to all: Estonian president

Karis calls on international community to step in against weapons development

22 September 2023
Police officers try to block an entrance of the government building during a protest against Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, demanding that authorities defend ethnic Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, in Yerevan on Sept. 20. (Photolure via AP)
International relations

Azerbaijan claims full control over the Nagorno-Karabakh region

Armenian forces agree to disarm after latest outbreak of decades-old conflict

21 September 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a meeting at the Vostochny Сosmodrome in Russia's far eastern Amur region on Sept. 13
The Nikkei View

Russia-North Korea military ties are cause for concern

Democracies must work together to counter authoritarian coercion

20 September 2023
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, second from right, with Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East on Sept. 13. (Kremlin via Reuters)
Comment

Kim's Russian spaceport visit: The rocket science of hiding poverty

North Korean leader and Putin use each other to compensate for weaknesses

20 September 2023
China aims for President Xi Jinping to meet with his U.S. and Russian counterparts this fall.
International relations

China walks fine line with eye on summits with Biden, Putin

String of high-level meetings lays groundwork for possible fall meetings

20 September 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting New York for the United Nations General Assembly this week. (Handout photo from the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service)
19 September 2023
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Jakarta in July.
International relations

China's Wang Yi meets with Russia's Lavrov, eyeing Putin visit

Asian power's foreign minister is in Moscow to pave way for summit with Xi Jinping

19 September 2023
Russian military blogger Igor Girkin, who supports the Ukraine invasion but has criticized Putin's government, was arrested in July.
Ukraine war

Russia's war bloggers hold potential spark of further unrest

Traffic to accounts critical of government missteps swells after Prigozhin revolt

17 September 2023
A drone operator prepares for takeoff at a test site on the outskirts of Kyiv. (Photo by Taro Yokosawa)
Ukraine war

From drones to cyberattacks, technology is shaping Ukraine conflict

Kyiv is going through an estimated 10,000 drones a month in fight against Russia

16 September 2023
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's President Vladimir Putin meet at the Vostochny Сosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region in Russia on Sept. 13. (Tass via Kyodo)
N Korea at crossroads

North Korea's Kim meets Putin at Russian space center

Moscow promises to help Pyongyang develop rockets

13 September 2023
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves from a private train as he departs Pyongyang to visit Russia on Sept. 10 in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 12.
International relations

North Korea's Kim Jong Un enters Russia for summit with Putin

Leaders expected to discuss arms sales as Moscow struggles in war on Ukraine

13 September 2023
North Korea's Kim Jong Un, left, and Russia's Vladimir Putin attend a reception after meeting in Vladivostok in 2019. They are expected to meet again in the coming days. (Photo by KCNA via Reuters)
Comment

Russia risks further isolation by courting North Korea

Efforts to boost war effort could undo Moscow's rapport with emerging countries

12 September 2023
People walk past a banner of the Eastern Economic Forum at Vladivostok International Airport on Sept. 10.
Ukraine war: Free to read

Ukraine from Sept.4 to Sept.11: Russia kicks off Eastern Economic Forum

Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi makes unannounced visit to Ukraine

12 September 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pose for a photo during their meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, in April 2019.
International relations

North Korea's Kim to visit Russia for talks with Putin

Leaders set to discuss arms deals, say U.S. officials

11 September 2023
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a news conference after the G20 summit in New Delhi on Sept. 11.
G20 Summit

Lula wants Putin and Xi back in fold at Brazil's G20 next year

President hedges on Russian leader's arrest, questions why Brazil signed ICC treaty

11 September 2023
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi on Sept. 10.
G20 Summit

Erdogan says isolating Russia will fail, eyes Black Sea grain revival

Turkish president vows 'firm diplomacy' to ensure food supplies for Africa

10 September 2023
Combines load wheat into a truck during harvest in the Cherlaksky district of the Omsk region of Russia on Sept. 8.
G20 Summit

G20 calls for exports of Ukraine grain to ease inflation

Developing nations depend on shipments from war-affected region, group says

9 September 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin awaits the head of Myanmar's junta at the 2022 Eastern Economic Forum: The forum now looks like a rogues' gallery of the world's worst regimes. (Pool via Reuters) 
Opinion

Putin's Pacific party is over if Kim Jong Un is guest of honor

Even China's top leaders now snub Vladivostok's Eastern Economic Forum

9 September 2023