On Tuesday April 14, traffic on the Garden Ring Road in downtown Moscow was seriously hampered, as President Dmitry Medvedev made a high profile visit to the Institute of Contemporary Development (INSOR) -his pocket think tank, staffed with many known liberal academics. Medvedev's formal position... MORE

Following the restoration of his political rights, veteran Islamist politician and former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, 83, returned to active politics, raising questions about the leadership of the Islamist Felicity Party (SP). Erbakan, the legendary leader of the National Outlook Movement (NOM) advocated a political... MORE

On April 16-17 the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Council of Foreign Ministers' met in Yerevan to discuss international security issues, the potential for cooperation with other multilateral bodies, and the situation in Afghanistan. At the top of its agenda however, was the progress towards... MORE

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