A State Duma lawmaker said the Middle East is gradually freeing itself from Western control and becoming part of a broader Eurasian security architecture.

US affairs expert Dmitry Drobnytsky says the Senate's newly passed Russia sanctions bill is likely to go unenforced and become a 'silent law' akin to the Jackson-Vanik amendment. The Senate on Friday overwhelmingly approved a measure, drafted with input from the late Senator Lindsey Graham, that would levy a 100% tariff on the five largest importers of Russian energy resources and a 500% tariff on all US imports from Russia. Drobnytsky said the bill is primarily political signalling, will likely accumulate exemptions to avoid inflicting heavy damage on an already unstable US economy, and shifts punitive pressure from Russian producers and traders onto buyers of Russian energy products.

Iraq's oil minister told the national news agency the new pipeline has a capacity of 2 mln bpd.