Kievan Rus'

The total volume of Serbia's trade in Russia increased last year, but its value decreased, Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin has said.

The biggest problems, according to him, are the falling prices of oil and gas and the instability of the Russian currency.

Turkish jewelry producers aim to increase their exports by 30 percent to $3.5 billion this year by focusing on new markets, after seeing decreases of around 15 percent in year-on-year exports in 2015 amid the loss of one of their key markets, Russia.  

German businesses are expecting to see a further drop in exports to Russia this year to their lowest level in 10 years, even if companies continue to regard it as a market with enormous potential, a specialist trade organization found on Feb. 19.

Turkey "could hit the Russian agricultural sector harder" than Russia's sanctions have hit Turkey by canceling wheat imports from its northern neighbor but has chosen not to, Agriculture Minister Faruk Çelik said in a televised interview on Jan. 31.

Exporters of ready-to-wear textile products in Turkey, who have been hit by sanctions imposed by Russia, are eying new markets in Africa to compensate their losses.

Turkish officials have said they are not overly worried about Russian trade sanctions against Turkish goods, adding they are in search of alternative markets as the loss of the Russian market is not in intolerable amounts. 

The death of Diesel, the heroic dog who died in the France during the anti-terrorism police raids at Saint Denis, has melted the hearts of men and women from around the world. The dog died after entering an apartment to check the threat level inside and prompted an outpouring of grief on social media.

Regular passenger flights between the capital cities of Bulgaria and Ukraine will resume soon, Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Andrei Pivovarsky said on Friday.

Ukrainian airline Wind Rose will start regular flights from Kiev to Sofia within a month, Pivovarsky said during a meeting with Bulgarian Deputy Transport Minister Anton Ginev in Sofia.

Three-way talks involving the EU, Russia and Ukraine have ended with an agreement on the terms of gas supplies between October this year and March 2016, the EU Commission has said.

The Ministry of Defense says it is working "to improve and further develop best possible relationships with all states and international organizations."