Two days before the July 30 bomb blasts in Tashkent, Astana hosted the security service chiefs of Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey in discussions on ways of fighting terrorism. Russia and Ukraine, demonstrating their growing concern with security issues, sent observers to the meeting. Most importantly,... MORE

Reliable sources in Uzbekistan's Ministry of Internal Affairs are claiming that two of the three suicide bombers who committed detonated explosions in Tashkent on July 30 were Kazakhstani citizens of Uzbek descent. In a related development, the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan has begun the trial... MORE

General John Abizaid, Commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), visited Kazakhstan on August 2 with the express purpose of discussing ways to strengthen military cooperation between the United States and Kazakhstan. He also discussed Kazakhstan's partnership with NATO and explored ways in which this... MORE

Latvia's Prime Minister Indulis Emsis has made an abrupt decision to remove Sandra Kalniete, an internationally respected diplomat, from the post of European Commissioner in Brussels. Emsis wants to free Latvia's seat on the European Commission for Ingrida Udre, chairwoman of the Latvian parliament, and... MORE

The State Duma on August 3 approved a Kremlin-supported bill in its second reading that would replace Soviet-vintage social benefits -- to such groups as pensioners, war veterans, the disabled, and Chernobyl cleanup workers -- with cash payments. The lower parliamentary chamber is expected to... MORE

A special session of the OSCE's Permanent Council in Vienna on July 29 failed to act on Georgia's proposal to widen the role of the OSCE Mission in South Ossetia. Supported in principle, though in lukewarm tones, by the United States and the European Union,... MORE

On July 31, a Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry statement approvingly confirmed that a Russian company has begun maintenance work on the Sochi (Russia)-Sukhumi (Abkhazia) railroad. That railroad is legally Georgian, but is controlled by Russia and the Abkhaz. The Russian move violates the March 2003... MORE

With Ukraine's presidential election just three months away, Russia appears to be stepping up efforts to influence the outcome of the ballot in its neighbor. Ukraine remains the linchpin in the new frontier of Russia-led Eurasian integration. The result of the October 31 election may... MORE

The leader of the All-Ukrainian Party "Liberty," Oleh Tyahnybok, was expelled from the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction on July 20. Tyahnybok was excluded after giving an anti-Russian, anti-Semitic speech at the gravesite of a commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a guerrilla group that... MORE

A Ukrainian ship en route to Egypt was stopped and searched in Istanbul in June. Turkish officials found that the ship contained numerous items not listed on its manifest, including such sophisticated weapons as a radio-controlled missile and launcher (Associated Press, June 4). This disclosure... MORE