Austria’s OMV company, leader of the Nabucco pipeline project, initially conceived it almost a decade ago to bring Iranian gas via Turkey and the Balkans to central Europe. With subsequent political developments shelving this and other gas projects in Iran, OMV has considered options in... MORE

On March 11 residents of Karachaevsk, the second-largest city in the North Caucasus region of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, voted for mayor. Yet two months later, the final result of the election is still unknown. Meanwhile, two local political forces are fighting each other to gain control of... MORE

In his annual address to parliament on April 30, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon outlined prospects for Tajikistan’s economic growth through 2015 within the National Development Strategy. Rahmon enjoys majority support in Tajikistan despite widespread corruption and elements of authoritarianism in his governance, and most Tajiks... MORE

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has bent to pressure from President Viktor Yushchenko and agreed to an early parliamentary election. This decision has been essentially a compromise between the two main players, as Yanukovych’s junior coalition partners -- the Socialists and the Communists –-- have... MORE

Russia’s state-run Rosneft energy company has snagged key Yukos assets in Siberia, enabling the company to overtake the privately owned Lukoil in terms of oil production capacity and become Russia's largest oil company. The move has also increased the government's clout in the country's oil... MORE

On May 3 Marie Yovanovitch, U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, denied reports that the Manas base near Bishkek is being used to store nuclear weapons for a possible attack on Iran. Yovanovitch commented on the “ridiculous” nature of these allegations, which suggested that the U.S. military... MORE