One of the more puzzling turns in Kazakhstan’s recent cabinet reshuffle was the replacement of Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev, a professionally trained and skilled diplomat, by the dark horse Marat Tazhin, who had made an inconspicuous career as a chairman of the Security Council and... MORE

On January 24 U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Marie Yovanovitch gave an important indication of Washington’s long-term commitment to its deployment at Manas air base. Specifically, U.S. military personnel will remain in Kyrgyzstan as long as counter-terrorist operations continue within Afghanistan. Although these expressions of the... MORE

On Thursday, January 25, Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev urged the government to make it tougher for foreign investors to access the mineral resources of the Russian continental shelf. “As these are strategic interests,” he said, “a tougher procedure will be introduced to grant... MORE

Addressing a Minsk academic forum on January 26, President Alexander Lukashenka in fact had the European Union in mind for much of his speech, clearly signaling a turnabout from his hitherto exclusive Russian orientation. Lukashenka also made the same points in accompanying remarks to the... MORE

The possibility of Kyrgyzstan joining the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative has sparked heated debates among state institutions and civil society groups. Recently, Andrei Grozin, representing the Moscow Institute of the Commonwealth of Independent States, commented that Kyrgyzstan’s... MORE

Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov’s unexpected death on December 21, 2006, triggered a wave of uncertainty both inside Turkmenistan and internationally. The “light of the Turkmen” had established an extravagant personality cult that many compared to Stalin’s. Oddly enough, Niyazov died on Stalin’s birthday. In a... MORE