On July 6, the pro-government website 12news.uz published an article by Uzbekistani Professor Rustamjon Abdullaev entitled, “Uzbekistan must join NATO and stake territorial and other claims against some former Soviet Union countries.” In his article, Abdullaev articulates Tashkent’s strong opposition to the construction of hydroelectric... MORE

The demise of the Nabucco-West gas pipeline project leaves Romania and Hungary dependent on Russian gas imports, and scrambling for diversification solutions that variously look sub-optimal or doubtful. Conversely, the go-ahead to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project inspires some hopes for trickle-down supplies of natural... MORE

After a year of sparring with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov over several dozen hectares of disputed land, the president of Ingushetia decided to distinguish himself in yet another field. According to official information, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has been strenuously trying to purge the republican interior ministry’s... MORE

Russia and Iran have become allies in the Syrian crisis, together providing military and financial assistance and advanced armaments that are essential to keep the regime of Bashar al-Assad in power. This increasingly close alliance has been giving more clout to those in Moscow who... MORE

Much has been and will be said about the 150th anniversary of the Circassian “genocide” by Russian forces that will be marked in 2014 when the site of that mass murder is scheduled to be the venue of the Winter Olympics. But this week marks... MORE

The high expectations on the part of Circassians of benevolence from the Russian state were cut short by the Russian government’s attitude toward the repatriation of the Syrian Circassians. “Even in a ‘life-and-death’ situation, Russia will never help us,” the well-known Circassian activist Andzor Kabard... MORE

On July 28, Vladimir Putin completed a working visit to Kyiv that immediately caused controversy about the outlook of Ukrainian-Russian relations. The Russian president had a brief meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, on July 27 while attending the official celebration of the 1025th... MORE

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project consortium is being thoroughly reconfigured, reflecting the producers’ and shippers’ options for marketing Azerbaijani natural gas in Europe.On July 30, Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR), BP (formerly British Petroleum), and Total of France—gas producers at Shah Deniz in Azerbaijan—entered the... MORE

The Belarusian parliament has selectively revived the so-called “golden share” rule that applied between 1997 and 2008. According to that rule, the state’s representatives on the board of directors of any privately owned enterprise could block various decisions made by its management team. The existence... MORE

The Georgian Minister of Healthcare David Sergienko informed journalists about his final decision to establish full control over the Central Public Health Reference Laboratory named after United States Senator Richard Lugar. The laboratory, until recently, retained its independence and was considered to be a joint... MORE