Although characterized by some inside and outside Uzbekistan as “the most hated person” in the country, Gulnara Islamovna Karimova has apparently mastered the art of social networking—in particular, Twitter. The medium is serving to promote and bring more visibility to her professional activities, providing a... MORE

Addressing Gazprom’s annual general meeting of shareholders, CEO Alexei Miller warned that Gazprom would “never again, under any circumstances” use Ukraine’s gas storage system in the process of delivering Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine (Kommersant-Ukraina, July 4; Nezavisimaya Gazeta, July 10; see EDM, July... MORE

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin appealed to a conference in Moscow on June 27 to close the military technology gap with the United States, in response to Washington allegedly developing the capability to destroy most of Russia’s nuclear forces within a few hours. The pseudo-paranoia,... MORE

Ukraine has recently initiated procurement of natural gas from European suppliers. These volumes are small but growing, correspondingly eroding Gazprom’s market share in Ukraine.The German Rheinisch-Westfaelisches Elektrizitaetswerk (RWE) is providing the volumes through its subsidiary, RWE Supply & Trading. Some of these gas volumes are... MORE

Ukraine stands on the threshold of finalizing the Association Agreement with the European Union, possibly signing it at the Vilnius summit in November. If signed, the agreement would open the way for European comprehensive support to the modernization of Ukraine’s gas transit system, which carries... MORE

On July 7, public protests against ethnic Chechens were held in the town of Pugachyov in Russia’s Saratov region. The protesters’ demands—that all ethnic Chechens in the town be deported and the inflow of North Caucasians end—found unusually strong support among the local residents and... MORE

Last Friday night (July 12), United States President Barack Obama took a deep breath and called Russian President Vladimir Putin, perhaps assuming that talking is better than trading invectives via press secretaries. No solution for Syria was invented (and none had been expected), and Obama’s... MORE

In a June 19 press release, the Taliban, referring to itself as the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” stated that it will not “allow others to use Afghan soil to pose a threat to the security of other nations! [sic]” (https://shahamat-english.com/index.php/paighamoona/32948-statement-regarding-inauguration-of-political-office-of-islamic-emirate-in-qatar). Despite this promise and against... MORE

Many observers were surprised by rebel leader Doku Umarov’s videotaped statement recently posted on the Internet announcing an end to the moratorium on attacks on Russian territory (https://archive.org/details/AmirIkDokkuAbuUsmanOtmenilMoratorijNaOperaciiVRossii), but this announcement should have been expected by those who follow the developments in the region. The... MORE

Mass protests across Egypt and an ultimatum from the military leadership paved the way for the removal of the country’s first freely elected president, Mohammed Morsi, on July 3. The demise of the Morsi-led Muslim Brotherhood (MB) regime raises two important questions for Turkey: How... MORE