Bilateral negotiations on Russia's military bases in Georgia were expected to resume this week, but did not. At the last minute, Moscow declined Tbilisi's invitation to hold a two-day round of negotiations. Earlier, the Russian side ignored Tbilisi's proposal to hold a negotiating round on... MORE

In a clear signal of the growing importance that Kazakhstan attaches to military cooperation with the West, an historic agreement has been reached with Britain's BAE Systems to upgrade Kazakhstan's air defense systems. According to Russian media reports, Astana negotiated a tough deal, which stimulated... MORE

The June 15 meeting between US President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai failed to seriously address the upsurge in opium cultivation in Afghanistan and its role in fuelling insurgency and instability in that country. Discussing that meeting, Robert Weiner, the former Clinton... MORE

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tashkent, currently in progress, marks a potentially significant strategic shift in the development of security bodies with real capability to act and promote stability within Central Asia. The success of the summit, in large measure, will be a... MORE

Statements released on June 16-17 on behalf of Gazprom Chairman Aleksey Miller and Deputy Chairman Aleksandr Ryazanov suggest that Russia's program to monopolize the transit of Turkmen gas to Europe is proceeding on track, with apparently unreserved cooperation from Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niazov. Turkmenistan's gas... MORE

The much-discussed Pankisi gorge involving Chechen refugees has reappeared on the agenda of Georgian-Russian relations. On a visit to Georgia on June 8-9, a delegation of the Russian federal migration service led by Boris Yunashin, vainly attempted to persuade an estimated 2,000 Chechen refugees situated... MORE

On June 14, Ukraine's two largest oligarchic clans undertook what are likely to be one of the first of many insider privatizations before this year's elections in October. Ninety-three percent of shares in Ukraine's largest steel producer Kryvorizhstal were purchased for a staggeringly low sum... MORE

Are the Russian government and the Kremlin's political party pushing for a law that would give the state the power to nationalize private businesses? Earlier this month, one of United Russia's leaders, Oleg Morozov, said in an interview that his party was working on a... MORE

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov appears poised to gain full control over the Russian General Staff, bringing to a close his personal antagonism toward Chief of General Staff General Anatoliy Kvashnin. A proposed law on defense, which passed its second stage in the Duma last... MORE

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania held on June 13 their first-ever elections for the Brussels-based European Parliament, the legislative body of the European Union (EU). Fortuitously but fittingly, the election date coincided with the annual observances of the Day of Memory and Hope (June 14), when... MORE