Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko has used the past week, with parliament closed for summer recess, to assert his authority in key state institutions. Yet these latest moves have failed to dispel the growing opinion that Yushchenko is not making use of the extensive powers he... MORE

Uzbekistan's relations with China have been developing at a much more rapid pace since its internal crisis in Andijan in May 2005. That renewed impetus towards building closer ties has been underscored by Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wu Yi, who visited Uzbekistan for high-level talks... MORE

Russia's Gazprom is moving rapidly to preempt potential competitors on European markets, far outpacing the European Union's development of a supply-diversification strategy. Gazprom will soon complete the first trunk line of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline and is set to embark on the North European gas... MORE

On July 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unannounced visit to the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the very place where he began his climb to the presidency in 1999. In August 1999, Islamic militants from neighboring Chechnya invaded two districts of Dagestan, and... MORE

Armenia is under fire from the United States and other Western donors over the legally questionable transfer of its electricity distribution network to Russia's Unified Energy Systems (UES). The deal could have far-reaching repercussions for the country's economic independence and hamper continued Western assistance to... MORE

From July 18 to 24, Russia is holding large-scale military maneuvers aimed at countering potential terrorist attacks in its Far East region. However, since terrorists have not yet really targeted Russia's Far East, the drill is understood to have other purposes as well. The drill,... MORE

Despite hopes to the contrary, the election of a new president of Ukraine has not sped the investigation into the murder of opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. At the Davos World Economic Summit in January, President Viktor Yushchenko promised that the Gongadze case would be submitted... MORE

In a seemingly democratic gesture, Kazakh authorities handed over prominent Uzbek human rights activist Lutfulla Shamsuddinov to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on July 1. With this move the government resolved a difficult dilemma that had brought a flood of criticism from... MORE