Moscow

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Jan. 28 that Washington was ready to increase sanctions on Russia over its actions in war-torn Ukraine.
 
Lew's comments during a visit to Kyiv came one day after EU heads of state threatened to impose further financial measures against Moscow in response to the latest upsurge in violence in Ukraine's nine-month war.
 

Greece's new government on Tuesday distanced itself from an EU call to consider expansion of the bloc's sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

The move could be setting the stage for possible friction with Greece's partners in the bloc over foreign policy issues in addition to disagreements over economic and financial policies.

Russia's Gazprom said on Tuesday a planned gas pipeline to Turkey will become operational by the end of next year.

Bulgaria's Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev and his Romanian counterpart Mircea Dusa on Tuesday discussed the creation of command and control elements that would be deployed in the two countries as part of NATO's Readiness Action Plan.

The US rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded Russia's credit rating to junk, which is below investment grade.

Russia's credit rating has been lowered to such a level for the first time in a decade, Bloomberg reports.

Having a rating of BB+, Russia is on a par with Bulgaria and Indonesia, which makes it difficult for Moscow to borrow money from investors.

Standard and Poor's stripped Russia of its investment-grade rating on Jan. 26, cutting it to "junk" status with a warning of weak growth.

"The downgrade reflects our view that Russia's monetary policy flexibility has become more limited and its economic growth prospects have weakened," the ratings agency said in a statement announcing the one-notch cut to a 'BB+' rating.

President Vladimir Putin sharply ramped up his anti-Western rhetoric on Jan. 26, accusing the Ukrainian army of being "NATO's foreign legion" whose main purpose was to contain Russia.
      

Romanian analysts have expressed concerns that Moldova's chances for future integration into the European Union are diminishing after the formation of a weak minority government in the neighbouring former Soviet republic.

After months of negotiations, the Liberal Democratic Party, PLDM, and the Democratic Party, PDM, agreed late on January 23 to form a minority government in Moldova.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Jan. 26 that Moscow is working to promote contacts between Kyiv and the pro-Russian separatists in the next few days.    

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said US plans to train vetted rebels to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were "illusory" as they would eventually defect to the jihadists, in an interview published Monday.