Evidently disturbed by Turkmenistan's recent moves to crack Gazprom's monopsony, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has publicly instructed Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller to "step up work with Turkmenistan" (Interfax, April 16). Putin was speaking on the day when Turkmenistan... MORE

On April 16 in Ashgabat, the German energy giant Rheinisch-Westfaelische Elektrizitaetswerk (RWE) entered into an agreement with Turkmenistan on offshore gas field development and gas deliveries. RWE board chairman Juergen Grossmann and Yagshgeldi Kakayev, head of the Turkmen State Agency for the Management and Use... MORE

On April 17 Turkey's Energy Minister Hilmi Guler, attended a meeting on the future of the Turkish energy sector where he highlight the need to invest in renewable energy resources and diversify its hydrocarbon supplies. In that context, Guler sent important messages to Turkey's Nabucco... MORE

Plans are underway for the annual Chernobyl Path March in Minsk on April 26, but this year they will be accompanied by similar demonstrations in the contaminated zone and in Astravets, the location chosen earlier this year for the construction of a new nuclear power... MORE

On April 15 President Dmitri Medvedev created a sensation by granting an exclusive interview to Novaya Gazeta, known, in his own words, for "not licking up" to anybody, and then held meetings with the Council for Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights and the Association... MORE

On April 16 Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan attended the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) Foreign Ministers Council in Yerevan. Following his BSEC meetings, Babacan discussed the recent developments between Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. President Barack Obama's historic visit to Turkey earlier this month had... MORE

As the presidential elections draw nearer, political assassinations and criminality are on the rise within Kyrgyzstan. On April 14, another Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjarbek Kydyraliyev, was shot dead outside his home in Bishkek. Kydyraliyev is the fifth MP killed in Kyrgyzstan since President Kurmanbek... MORE

On April 13 Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said on ICTV, "There is a potential threat of a forced takeover of power (in Ukraine)." A possible cancellation of elections could be part of an "attempt to maintain oneself in power by undertaking any risky action" Lytvyn... MORE

On April 16, Georgian authorities prevented the Kremlin-coordinated youth group, Nashi, from provoking incidents at the South Ossetia demarcation line and in Tbilisi. A convoy of five vehicles carrying 20 Nashi activists, the "Moscow-Tskhinvali-Tbilisi Motorcade," had set off from Moscow on April 10, reaching Tskhinvali... MORE

Turkey's Chief of the General Staff, General Ilker Basbug, delivered a speech at the War Academies Command in Istanbul on April 14, addressing key issues including civil-military relations, national identity, the role of religion, and the fight against terrorism (EDM, April 15). The most surprising... MORE