Since 2008, Russia has been attempting to substantially reform its armed forces, and in 2010, it launched a massive procurement or State Armaments Program (SAP) for 2011-2020. That program calls for spending 23 trillion rubles ($723 billion) by 2020 to attain an armed force that... MORE

Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas holding, Kazmunaigaz, has started its first-ever oil exploration drilling outside that country. Rompetrol Upstream, a division of Rompetrol Group, is drilling the Kaz-1 exploration well near Focsani in eastern Romania. The Rompetrol Group is a fully-owned subsidiary of Kazmunaigaz Processing... MORE

In March 2012, the new Italian technocratic Prime Minister Mario Monti went to Kazakhstan as part of his first diplomatic trip to Asia since assuming the prime ministerial office in November 2011. This Asian tour, nicknamed a “road show” in Italy as its major aim... MORE

On Monday, August 6, the Collective Rapid Reaction Force (in Russian – KSOR) of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) launched this year’s military exercise at the Chebarkul training site of Russia’s Chelyabinsk region, close to the border with Kazakhstan. This five-day exercise codenamed Rubezh-2012... MORE

On August 3, Belarusian television stations explained why the Belarusian authorities have refused to extend the accreditation of Swedish Ambassador Stefan Eriksson. On the program Panarama, Syarhey Husachenka stated first that it was a routine matter, and the Swedish ambassador had already spent a long... MORE

Since the reform of Russia’s conventional armed forces began in October 2008, Colonel-General Vladimir Shamanov has fought to protect the country’s elite airborne forces (Vozdushno Desantnye Voiska – VDV) from many of the main elements of the transformation process. While the Armed Forces were downsized,... MORE

The US Congress’s consideration of future policy on Central Asia during the July 24 hearing of the Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia of the House Foreign Affairs Committee received widespread coverage in Central Asian and Russian media. However, US policymakers showed no awareness of the... MORE

On August 1, Circassian activists marked the Day of the Repatriated Person in the North Caucasus. This year, the celebrations were strongly influenced by the Syrian crisis, turning into an event of solidarity with the Syrian Circassians. On the same day, several Circassian organizations jointly... MORE

On July 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Transnistria is entitled to self-determination, implying secession from Moldova. Answering questions at the Kremlin-sponsored Camp Seliger Forum, Putin stated: “Many problematic spots have remained after the Soviet Union’s fall, and Transnistria is one of them. Only... MORE

There is no royal tourism to Siberian natural preserves or Black Sea beaches for President Vladimir Putin this August; instead, he is hurrying from the naval shipyard in Severodvinsk to the garrison of an airborne brigade in Ulyanovsk oblast to the “patriotic” youth camp Seliger,... MORE