Austria will continue buying Russian gas despite US pressure and fear-mongering from Poland and Ukraine about dangers to European energy security. The cost of importing US gas is just not right, says its Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. [...]

Donald Trump, Mike Pence and John Bolton – best known for their “erratic and aggressive” traits – are a “toxic mixture” that leaves Europe less secure, a reputable German MP has warned. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government hoped that it could quietly wait for the Trump administration to end, but that was “a bitter illusion,” Jurgen Trittin, formerly minister for the environment [...]

Berlin must not bow to any other countries’ “dictation” on its energy policy, the head of a German trade lobby in Russia has said, as he slammed the politicization of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. [...]

The German chancellor challenged Donald Trump on the contentious issues of auto tariffs, Iran's nuclear program and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, winning a standing ovation but not a flicker of emotion from US representatives. [...]

US State Secretary Mike Pompeo's quest to scare Hungary away from dealing with Russia and China appears to have turned sour, as Budapest said it's fed up with lectures about its foreign policy. [...]

As the US tries to impede Berlin from a joint energy project with Russia – Nord Stream 2 – the German economy minister says that his country will stick to the enterprise, backing Moscow as a reliable partner. [...]

The UK, France, and Spain among a number of countries, have announced their recognition of Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president after Caracas did not cave into an ultimatum calling for snap elections with eight days. [...]

VIENNA (Sputnik) - Austria supports Macedonia as well as other Western Balkan countries on their path toward EU membership, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday, following talks with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in Vienna. [...]

Earlier in January, European companies participating in the venture aimed at building a new route for Russian gas to bypass Ukraine, reportedly received threatening letters from US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell. He warned the firms about the sanctions risk their involvement in the project incurs. [...]

Berlin might face a lawsuit from one of Germany’s largest defense contractors, Rheinmetall, over its decision to halt all arms deals with Riyadh in the wake of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Der Spiegel reports. [...]

Despite years of Western sanctions, Russia will become the world’s fifth-largest economy as early as next year, surpassing Germany and the UK, multinational bank Standard Chartered said in its long-term growth forecasts. [...]

Washington’s attempts to derail the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to supply Russian natural gas to the European Union will definitely backfire, according to a geopolitical expert Dr. Pierre-Emmanuel Thomann. [...]

Integrity Initiative’s crusade to create a lockstep anti-Russia narrative in Europe and the US has hit a roadblock: According to the shadowy organization, Norwegians are too skeptical of US politics and not adequately anti-Russia. [...]

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has lashed out at the US for its position on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Former Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder said Saturday that the US has its own energy interests in Europe, which explains the pressure Washington is exerting on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. [...]

The five-meter-high avalanche descended near Peak Sentis on the Schwagalp Pass as a result of heavy snowfall; the search for the missing is underway, according to Swiss German daily Tagblatt. An avalanche hit the restaurant of the Hotel Santis in Schwagalp in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in eastern Switzerland on Thursday, according to media reports. [...]

Washington’s criticism of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to deliver Russian gas to Europe bypassing transit countries has been strongly rejected by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. [...]

Authorities in southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have closed highways and some railroads due to heavy snowfall in the region, according to Fox News reports. Thousands of tourists ended the Christmas holiday in the Alps on 6 January being evacuated due to heavy snowfall, including visitors to the popular Matterhorn in Switzerland, Fox News reported, saying that airports and trains have exp [...]

Germany’s major rightwing party, the AfD, threatens to push for a so-called ‘Dexit’ if the EU doesn’t restore its members’ national sovereignty and takes no action against “Islamization of Europe” within the next five years. [...]

The common European currency, which was created on 1 January 1999 and became a physical currency three years later, will soon mark its 20-year anniversary, having survived major crises over the last decade. Sputnik has recalled how the euro started its path, what challenges it has faced and what prospects it has. [...]

Austria believes that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project will be successfully implemented, Russian Ambassador in Vienna Dmitry Lyubinsky told Sputnik. "Nord Stream 2 is, of course, the most promising initiative of our energy partnership with Austria… They believe here that this project will be successfully implemented," Lyubinsky said. [...]

A veteran Austrian journalist has urged for action against media crackdown in Ukraine, saying he fears for his life after being labeled “a Kremlin agent” by a vigilante website, according to Kronen Zeitung. Christian Wehrschuetz, a correspondent with Austria’s leading ORF broadcaster, said it is increasingly hard for him and his employees to feel safe in modern-day Ukraine, Kronen Zeitung re [...]

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says American nuclear missiles must not be stationed in Germany, or anywhere in Europe, in Washington's arms control debate with Moscow. "The deployment of new medium-range missiles would meet with widespread resistance in Germany," Maas said in an interview with German news agency dpa. [...]