During his recent visit to France on November 21–23, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with his counterpart Francois Hollande for the first time since Hollande became French president in May 2012. The successful encounter showed that Hollande wants to continue the high level of cooperation... MORE

A meeting in Morocco on December 12 by The Friends of Syria representing 100 countries recognized the opposition National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Force as the sole representative of the Syrian people. The step opens the way for increased humanitarian and military assistance... MORE

Early December saw multiple victims of the armed confrontation in the North Caucasus, as had the previous weeks of this year. According to independent sources, eight people were killed, one injured and four kidnapped in the region during the week of December 3–9 (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/216978/).On December... MORE

United States Senator Richard Lugar has urged the Obama administration to break Russia’s energy monopoly in Europe and called on Congress to lift limitations on LNG deliveries to NATO allies in Europe. His critical report, “Energy and Security from the Caspian to Europe,” and the... MORE

On December 5, Turkmenistan’s capital of Ashgabat hosted a summit of heads of state of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The presidents of Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan did not attend this forum, however. Instead of President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Arthur Rasizade represented Baku... MORE

A trial is underway over one of the most controversial and interesting political figures in recent Georgian history, Irakly Okruashvili (https://eng.ghn.ge/news-6999.html; https://lenta.ru/lib/14163771/). In 2004–2006, Okruashvili alternately occupied such high-ranking government positions as general prosecutor, interior and defense minister of Georgia. Okruashvili was considered one of... MORE

Dagestan’s state news agency reported a killing on the Kavkaz federal highway near the village of Agachaul on December 7 under a strange headline. According to RIA Dagestan, unknown assailants fired shots at a car in which Abakar Sulebanov, the former chief of a bread... MORE

Vladimir Putin delivered the annual presidential address to the joint session of parliament on December 12—his first after reelection to the Kremlin last March. The Kremlin was promoting the coming address as a highly important statement intended to put together a political and economic agenda... MORE

On November 21, Mongolia held local elections for the Citizens’ Representative Khurals [councils] of the provinces and the capital city. The voting resulted in a victory for the Mongolian Democratic Party (DP), which already holds a majority in the State Ikh Khural—the national parliament—and controls... MORE

In early December, the Anti-Crisis Fund Council of the Eurasian Economic Community approved the latest (fourth) tranche of a $3 billion loan (Belarusian Telegraph Agency, December 7), approved in June 2011 to assist Belarus in overcoming an economic crisis. The Council is expected to release... MORE