"Mediators" Russia, Ukraine, and the OSCE are redoubling efforts to refloat the shipwrecked negotiations toward Moldova's federalization. Meeting on October 11-12 in Sofia at the initiative of the OSCE Chairmanship, the three mediators issued a joint statement urging Chisinau and Tiraspol to return to that... MORE

Millions of Ukrainian citizens living abroad have the right to vote in the October 31 presidential election. While provisions for expatriates have been made previously, this election marks the first time the opposition and election monitoring groups have focused on such ballots. On October 12... MORE

Predictions that Georgia might replicate the Russian practice of taming disobedient media owners appear to have come true. The voluntary renunciation by Georgian media mogul Erosi Kitsmarishvili of his lucrative media business has rekindled the thorny question about how Saakashvili's government treats the private media... MORE

There are growing indications that the Kremlin's centralization measures may soon move well beyond what it has thus far made public, including the plan to make the country's governors presidential appointees. In addition, a leading newspaper has reported what it claims lies behind these measures:... MORE

Preliminary returns from Lithuania's October 10 parliamentary suggest that the traditional parties should be able to isolate the surging populist Labor Party after the elections, instead of entering into potentially risky arrangements with this challenger to the political system. The Labor Party, founded by Russian-born... MORE

Russia's reputation as a reliable security partner is currently growing within Central Asia, despite numerous efforts by Western countries to engage the region. Triggered in part by events such as the Beslan tragedy and an impetus toward closer cooperation between the Central Asian states and... MORE

Recent developments clearly indicate that China and Russia are stepping up their efforts to claim a larger share of Kazakhstan's energy sector. The growing appetite of Kazakhstan's giant neighbors comes at a time when prices for gas and diesel oil in Kazakhstan, the second largest... MORE

October 12 marked the end of the 40-day Orthodox mourning period for victims of the Beslan siege in North Ossetia. The period following a funeral is sacred for Orthodox believers, and tradition prevents anyone from calling for revenge during this time. But now that the... MORE

Some 150 years ago Russian Tsar Nicolas I, who was considered one of the Old Continent's most powerful rulers, contemptuously called the Ottoman Turkish Empire the "sick man of Europe." Had the arrogant autocrat been able to see contemporary developments, he would have been tremendously... MORE

The October 3 presidential election in Abkhazia has produced a far greater reaction in the Russian media than the scale of Russia's involvement in this Georgian separatist region or indeed the importance of the choices in these elections should merit (Kommersant, October 7, 8; Nezavisimaya... MORE