On November 30, in its strongest-ever international statement, Moldova decried the "foreign military occupation, namely by the Russian Federation, of a part of Moldova's territory," demanded those troops' withdrawal, described Trans-Dniester's authorities as Russian-installed proxies, and characterized the negotiations with them as a discredited process.... MORE

The first year of Leonid Kuchma's second term as president of Ukraine was marked by a scandal that eventually became known as Kuchmagate. The affair was triggered by the release of secret tape recordings made in his office by a security guard. Two years later... MORE

Several leading Russian liberals have strongly criticized Russia's role in Ukraine's ongoing election crisis. On December 2, Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky accused Russian authorities of interference in Ukraine's internal affairs. "Russian ruling circles should stop facilitating a split in Ukraine and provoking clashes there," Yavlinsky... MORE

The brief excitement created by President Vladimir Putin's mid-November announcement that the Russian government would be prepared to honor the 1956 Soviet-Japanese declaration (pledging to return two disputed islands to Japan) has evaporated as quickly as it appeared. The brief meeting between Putin and Japanese... MORE

On December 1, Russia's government introduced a set of blockade measures against Abkhazia for the declared purpose of preventing the inauguration of president-elect Sergei Bagapsh, victor over the Moscow-backed candidate Raul Khajimba in Abkhazia's October 3 presidential election. Gennady Bukayev, an aide to Russian Prime... MORE

Central Asian political leaders are watching events in Kyiv closely, as the Ukrainian crisis may affect the future foreign policy choices they make between the West and Russia. Meetings of the CIS Defense Ministers Council, at the Staff for Coordinating Military Cooperation in Moscow on... MORE

With their own presidential election drawing nearer, officials in Astana might prefer to turn off all television channels broadcasting the contentious presidential election events in Ukraine. Instead, state-run media in Kazakhstan have done little more than re-broadcast a few images of the street demonstrations in... MORE

Perhaps for the first time in the past ten years, Azerbaijan has departed from the traditional path of peace negotiation on the Karabakh conflict and taken its case to the UN General Assembly. On November 23, the plenary meeting of the 59th session of the... MORE

As opposition protests mount, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's chances of proving that the presidential elections were not rigged in his favor get slimmer. Now there are signs that the ruling elite is considering a new candidate. This is Serhiy Tyhypko, who on November 29... MORE

During yesterday's parliamentary hearings on Ukraine's post-election crisis, speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn promised not to use force against demonstrators. Similarly, during Sunday's meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, Security Service (SBU) chairman Ihor Smeshko argued against using force, as it would lead to greater... MORE