In oil exporting countries, the fiscal deficits in 2020 will be replaced by large surpluses in 2021 and 2022, mainly in GCC. If oil prices average US$ 81/b in 2022, fiscal balances in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq, and Oman are projected to be higher than 3% of GDP.

Hundreds of desperate migrants are trapped in freezing temperatures on the Belarus-Poland border and the presence of troops from both sides has raised fears of a confrontation.

Tehran has said the world powers should not exceed the bounds of the 2015 deal they are seeking to revive. The deal was between Iran and five world powers other than Russia: Britain, China, France, Germany and the US.

The Dutch supreme court on Friday scrapped an order for Russia to pay a record $50 billion to former shareholders in dismantled oil giant Yukos, but the legal saga is set to drag on for years more.

This is despite pressure from big consumer nations to open up the taps much more decisively amid soaring prices. The producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia in the so-called OPEC+ will add 400,000 barrels per day in December, they said.

The powerful producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia in the so-called OPEC+ grouping are expected to re-affirm a decision in July to modestly step up production after slashing it steeply last year as the pandemic hit global markets.

Russian tourists are finally returning to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh six years after a terrorist strike.

Naftali took office in June, taking over from Benjamin Netanyahu who was in power for 12 straight years and had close ties with Putin. As he left for Sochi on Friday, Bennett said Israel's relations with Moscow are an "important element" of the country's foreign policy.

The movie's plot, which has been mostly kept under wraps along with its budget, centres around a female surgeon who is dispatched to the ISS to save a cosmonaut

Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled tolerance of cryptocurrencies, but is still not convinced they can replace the US dollar in settling oil trades.

Journalists Maria Ressa from the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov from Russia have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for the year 2021 ‘for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.’

Turkey, a NATO member, defied US warnings in 2017 to buy the S-400 air defense system, a deal that the Western alliance fears will allow Russia to hone its skills at targeting the US and Western European aircraft. The US officials have reiterated that S-400 was "not compatible or operable...

The 15-member Council had been on track to extend the mission in mid-September for a year

The Russian leader hosted Erdogan at his Black Sea residence in the resort of Sochi

Turkey still intends to buy a second batch of S-400 missile defense systems from Russia, its president has said.

Iran has been trying to enter the SCO for years, and was close last year, but Tajikisatn objected to it.

Vladivostok and Murmansk identified as transshipment hubs.

Clashes between the two sides since late July have marked the biggest challenge yet to the Russian-brokered deal that returned the southern province to government control

Turkey's initial purchase of S-400s from Russia soured relations with the US and its NATO allies

Although its supply of crude oil fell ten percent on the month, Saudi Arabia still continued to be China’s top crude oil supplier for the ninth month in July, while Russian imports slipped by just 4 percent.

Russia, the largest exporter of wheat in the world, has been looking to enter the market for quite some time.

The Fazze network offered to pay the influencers for reposting misleading content

Influencers who caught onto the sham turned out to be the undoing of a deceitful influence campaign orchestrated by marketing firm Fazze in Russia, according to Facebook.

Regime forces have stepped up shelling since June despite a cease-fire deal brokered by Russia and Turkey.

Egypt and Russia have signed a deal to allow the latter to expand its industrial zone within the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).  The final agreement is expected to be signed by the end of 2021.

The Russian embassy in Egypt announced that flights will resume in August, some six years after a Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai.

3 children among the deceased, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Russia and the US described Friday's unanimous vote by the 15-member Security Council as an important moment The Security Council mandate for the aid operation, begun in 2014 at four points, was due to expire on Saturday The UN Security Council on Friday extended a cross-border aid operation into Syria...

The UAE on Sunday pushed back against a plan by the OPEC+ group to extend a pact to cut oil production beyond April 2022 There are concerns that if an agreement among the 23 member-states cannot be reached, the alliance could break apart The disagreement between Saudi Arabia and the...

UAE objects to extending of cuts to the end of 2022 as it seeks to grow production Members consider whether to continue reviving crude supplies gradually Major oil-producing countries on Thursday failed to agree to boost output in August to meet growing demand and limit recent price rises, adjourning their...

Russia is expected to favor increasing output Most investors are currently expecting a modest rise of some 500,000 bpd over the month of August   The OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries will meet on Thursday and are expected to agree to boost production in August to meet demand and dampen...

Russia might get a toehold in the banking sector in Saudi Arabia A proposal in this regard is being looked at by both the countries There might soon be a Russian bank in Riyadh. A proposal in this regard was presented at a meeting between Saudi and Russian officials on...

UAE food minister Mariam Almheiri says Tatarstan holds great promise for the UAE to diversify its international sources of food

Russia had suspended the service after its plane crashed in Egypt, killing all the 224 passengers on board The plane had been taking Russian holiday makers home from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg in 2015 Nearly six years after a Russian plane with 224 passengers on board crashed over the...

The United States and Russia are the third and fourth exporters of gas  Overall LNG trade increased to 356.1 million tons last year Qatar has lost its preeminent position as the world’s number one exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Australia, while the US and Russia remained as the...

Qatar National Tourism Council has offices in Russia since 2018 To attract visitors from new source markets, QNTC will showcase Fuwairit, Ras Abrouq and bin Ghannam islands The Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) is part of a delegation representing Qatar at the 24th edition of the St. Petersburg International Economic...

The delegation will look to strengthen economic ties, develop industries, improve trade exchanges with their Russian counterparts The center is an initiative of Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry A trade mission from the Sharjah Exports Development Center, an initiative of Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will go to...

Assad has cast himself as the sole architect of a reconstruction phase for the war-ravaged country Having overseen total destruction of his country in civil war, he is expected to become more autocratic Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is likely to be reelected as the president of the war-scarred Syria in...

Despite all odds, Russia looks consistent with its Middle East policies as it is relentlessly trying to cement formidable ties with this region. Unlike the US, and despite disturbed geopolitics, Russia has utilized all the available opportunities to find a new ally in the form of Middle East. The academicians,...

In 1978, Egyptian journalist Mohamed Heikal declared in his book Sphinx & Commissar that Soviet influence in the Middle East was a “spent force”, undermined by Moscow’s inability to be both a superpower and “the bastion of world revolution”.  One decade later, as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989-91, some...