Member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States

Kazakhstan is not conducting negotiations on sending peacekeeping troops to Syria and would only despatch troops there under a United Nations mandate, the Kazakh foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday, cited by Reuters.

BELGRADE - Sixty-seven percent of Russians view NATO as a threat, a new survey from Gallup shows. It's the highest number recorded since 2008.

In contrast, back in 2012, only 38 percent of Russians perceived the Western military bloc as a threat.

Kazakhstan will reconsider Serbia's request for export of 5,000 domestically-made cars to the customs union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic said this after a meeting with the country's Prime Minister Karim Massimov.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and business leaders are due to return on Oct. 28 evening from a week-long tour of Central Asia after striking business deals worth more than $26 billion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Northern Fleet, units of the airborne forces and the Western Military District on full combat alert from 08:00 Moscow time on Monday.

This was announced by Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu, who explained that these developments are part of snap checks, TASS news agency reports.

Montenegro's statistics agency, Monstat, said the price of new apartments sold in Montenegro in the fourth quarter of 2014 fell by 16.1 per cent compared to the previous year.

The drop is blamed on sharp falls in property values in the coastal town of Budva, the country's best known resort and for long the second home of thousands of wealthy Russians.

Russia "not against closer CIS ties with EU"

MINSK -- Russia has nothing against other CIS member states building closer ties with Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

A total of 953 polling stations in Latvia, and 98 stations in 41 other countries have opened on Saturday for the country's parliamentary elections.

The Central Elections Commission will publish the initial results shortly after midnight. Final results are expected to be announced by Sunday, Itar-Tass reports.

Stronger China-Russia ties "against external risks"

DUSHANBE -- China and Russia should strengthen their ties against the rise of "external risks", Chinese President Xi Jinping has said.

He made the comments in his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the agreement which would incorporate Armenia into the Eurasian Economic Council, according to radio Voice of Russia's website.

Armenia is the fourth country to enter the body also known as Eurasian Union which was established on May 29, 2014 in Kazakhstan's capital Astana.