When the G8 summit at Sea Island, Georgia ended on June 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised host country America "for both the content of the discussion and the atmosphere," which he described as "relaxed and very open." Putin even waded into U.S. domestic politics... MORE

Trans-Dniester's leaders -- partners in "federalism" with the U.S. State Department and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- are offering military assistance to South Ossetia now, and to Abkhazia if the need arises. The two top leaders of Trans-Dniester made these... MORE

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko was charged with laundering US$114 million on June 4, after a five-year investigation. Lazarenko was only the second foreign leader to be put on trial in the U.S., following Panamanian President Manuel Noriega in 1990. Lazarenko was prime minister... MORE

Russian border guards based in Tajikistan have carried out their first extensive training to cope with the aftermath of a possible chemical attack in the country launched by Al Qaeda. The exercise was designed to test the capability of Russian border guards to respond quickly... MORE

The spreading insurgency in Afghanistan has slowed down voter registration to such an extent that election officials are talking about postponing the polling from September to October. "The election cannot happen in September," electoral commission spokeswoman Ghutai Khawrai said on June 12. Khawrai explained that... MORE

The Moscow District Military Court on June 10 acquitted six defendants accused of killing Moskovsky Komsomolets reporter Dmitry Kholodov in October 1994, arguing that the prosecutor general's office had failed to present sufficient evidence. Kholodov, who had written a number of articles alleging corruption among... MORE

Last week, the Russian police agency responsible for tackling organized crime landed a big fish. At 5.00 a.m. on June 2, 150 GUBOP officials raided 15 locations, arresting four top officials from the State Fisheries Committee. Aleksandr Tugushev was appointed deputy head of the fisheries... MORE

On June 13, Poland, like the other seven post-Communist states who joined the European Union (EU) in May, will participate for the first time in European Parliament elections. In preparation for the elections, on June 5, the well-known Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper published a list of... MORE

Kazakhstan's Foreign Affairs Minister Kasymzhomart Tokaev presented a set of innovative proposals on June 9 in Astana regarding the legal status of the Caspian Sea. Addressing a session of the five riparian countries' working group, which is charged with drafting a legal convention, Tokaev called... MORE

The Collective Rapid Deployment Forces (CRDF) held a command and staff exercise in Kyrgyzstan June 2-3, signaling the start of a summer of military exercises which will underscore the organization's attempts to strengthen its credibility and enhance its image within Central Asia (Kabar News Agency,... MORE