Recent statements suggest that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is optimistic about reaching a settlement with Russia over the four islands that Stalin seized from Japan at the end of 1945 (Asahi Shimbun, July 20). Japan has refused to sign a peace treaty with Russia... MORE

The following recommendations emerged from a Jamestown Foundation event featuring Senior Jamestown Fellow Vladimir Socor, "The Crisis in South Ossetia: A Test of Russia's Conduct," held in Washington, DC on July 14, 2004. Tactical policy recommendations: 1. Support Georgia's goal, within the ongoing discussions with... MORE

Yukos appears poised on the brink of extinction following the Justice Ministry's July 20 announcement that it will put the oil company's main production unit, Yuganskneftegaz, up for sale to cover the $3.4 billion that the Tax Ministry is demanding from the oil company for... MORE

President Putin's July 19 appointment of Colonel-General Yuri Baluyevsky as Chief of the General Staff, after sacking General Anatoly Kvashnin the previous day, has been met with widespread support in Moscow. Not only do many colleagues and military analysts alike consider Baluyevsky as a safe... MORE

For the first time since the murder of opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze in fall 2000, the possible involvement of Ukraine's Ministry of the Interior (MVS) has now come under scrutiny in Ukraine. Why now, after four years? With the presidential election looming in October, the... MORE

On July 14 cultural ministers from 12 Turkic countries gathered at the Okan Intercontinental hotel in Astana for the 21st session of Turksoy, the international organization of Turkic-language nations set up in April 1992 to promote Turkic culture and spiritual values. In his opening speech,... MORE

On July 19, President Vladimir Putin fired Anatoly Kvashnin, Chief of the General Staff, as part of sweeping changes to the top brass in the Russian military. The announcement followed growing speculation in the Russian media and military press about Kvashnin's future. The conjecture was... MORE

On July 5 the Ukrainian government reversed a February 4, 2004, decision on which countries would supply oil to the Odessa-Brody pipeline. In February the decision had been made to transport Azerbaijani (and perhaps Kazakhstani) oil in a south-north direction from Odessa to Brody. The... MORE

Trans-Dniester's Russian-installed authorities -- chosen partners of the U.S. State Department and OSCE in the project to "federalize" Moldova -- seem bent on enforcing a complete prohibition on Latin script in the territory under their control. Moldovans form a plurality of the total population and... MORE

"All happy families are alike. Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," wrote Leo Tolstoy at the beginning of Anna Karenina. The same holds true for multinational states, yet among ethnically diverse states there are very few "happy families." Somehow I am at... MORE