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

Russian President Vladimir Putin engages in political and diplomatic battles over Ukraine as if it is his personal Stalingrad. Many liberal or just moderately independent commentators in Moscow argue that there was no need for him to take such a one-sided position and that the... MORE

On December 1, Latvian political parties ended a two-month deadlock by concluding a broad-based coalition agreement and programmatic declaration for the new government. The outgoing government, which had resigned in October and stayed on as caretaker, was a minority government of heterogeneous composition. It depended... MORE

Two powerful blasts rocked Almaty on Sunday, November 28, around 7 pm. The explosions caused serious damage to an agricultural library and triggered a flood of rumors and speculation. While pro-government media suggested that it was merely the work of hooligans, investigators as well as... MORE

Russia's Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev has appealed for the fight against terrorism in Russia to transcend military and security structures and include psychological, ideological, and economic means. Speaking in Moscow on November 26, Nurgaliev explained that the struggle against terrorism within the Russian Federation must... MORE