On October 28 the president of Tatarstan, Mintimir Shaimiev, met in Astana with Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and prime minister, Danial Akhmetov. The leaders discussed ways to deepen bilateral trade and economic links. Kazakh leaders view Tatarstan as one of their most important trade partners... MORE

Lithuanian Conservative leader Andrius Kubilius made history as prime minister in 1999-2000, when he and the Conservative parliamentary majority kick-started unpopular market economic reforms, at the cost of the party's electoral fortune. But some Conservatives risk jeopardizing those historic gains and diminishing their record if... MORE

Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov's proposal that Russia's law-enforcement agencies be permitted to detain terrorists' relatives as a "counter-hostage-taking" measure has elicited criticism from human rights activists and law-enforcement personnel alike. That proposal, however, was just one of several put forward by his office that observers... MORE

Russia has seen controversial political initiatives, acute security crises, and bitter electoral battles in the last half-year. What it has not seen is a series of consistent economic steps or proposals for economic reforms; even debates in this area have dried up. Nobody in Moscow... MORE

The Georgian government faces new problems in its two breakaway provinces. Nightly shoot-outs have resumed in South Ossetia, while Abkhazia still has no clear winner in its October 3 presidential election. Although no casualties have been reported in South Ossetia, recent developments very much resemble... MORE

Intensive discussions are underway at the OSCE's Vienna headquarters on the decisions and documents to be adopted by the organization's year-end conference. Moscow has already successfully ruled out from the principal final document, the Political Declaration, any reference to Russia's 1999 Istanbul Commitments to withdraw... MORE

Intensive discussions are underway at the OSCE's Vienna headquarters on the decisions and documents to be adopted by the organization's year-end conference. Moscow has already successfully ruled out from the principal final document, the Political Declaration, any reference to Russia's 1999 Istanbul Commitments to withdraw... MORE

With the Ukrainian presidential election just two days away, it is becoming increasingly clear how crucial this ballot is. Its outcome, as the dean of Ukraine specialists, Harvard University Professor Roman Szporluk, has succinctly put it, will set the course for this pivotal nation: "Toward... MORE

Throughout 2004 Western delegations to Ukraine and statements by governments and international organizations have repeatedly asked the Ukrainian authorities to conduct free and fair elections. During the summer both houses of the U.S. Congress voted for resolutions in support of free and fair elections, as... MORE

A poll conducted October 15-18 by the Levada Center, the independent polling agency headed by the eminent sociologist Yuri Levada, delivered a mixed message concerning Russians' attitudes towards various types of rights and freedoms. The poll's results suggested, on the one hand, that more Russians... MORE