Russia

Georgia's First Deputy Foreign Minister Lasha Darsalia told a regional conference held in hybrid format on 5 November that landmine contamination disrupts economies, limits the cultivation of agricultural land, displaces communities and challenges access to transportation and other infrastructure. "Since landmines clearly inhibit peace-building and stabilisation efforts we have been actively contributing to the international efforts aiming to achieve a landmine free world", he added.

EU High Representative Josep Borrell said in Brussels on Thursday (28 October) that in Moldova, the EU sees attempts by Gazprom to put political pressure in return to lower the gas prices. He said he had agreed with the Moldovan Prime Minister on the importance of strengthening resilience against any potential efforts by third parties to use energy as a geopolitical weapon. "Gas is a commodity. It has been bought and sold, sold and bought but it cannot be used as a geopolitical weapon", Borrell stated.

Russian and Chinese warships conducted the first ever joint patrol in the western part of the Pacific Ocean on October 17-23, Russia’s Defence Ministry reported on Saturday.

Russian president Vladimir Putin hosted Turkish president Recip Tayip Erdogan in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi on Wednesday (29 September) with both sides keen to consolidate Turkish-Russian relations despite a number of serious differences, especially on Syria. This face-to-face meeting was the first for the two presidents in the past year-and-a-half. Their previous meeting was in March 2020, at the Kremlin.

The European Union and its Member States strongly denounced malicious cyber activities against it originating in Russia. "We urge the Russian Federation to adhere to the norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace", the EU and its member states said in a statement on Friday,