Recent Chinese diplomatic maneuvers in Central Asia, both bilateral and multilateral, show that Beijing’s strategy treats the region as a corridor for reaching resource bases in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. Central Asia is thus part of China’s broader blueprint of securing strategic resources... MORE

In the wake of hostile exchanges between the Chechen and Ingush governments that started in late July, relations between the two republics could again seriously deteriorate following Chechen law enforcement actions on Ingush territory. Back in July, according to the Ingush side, an accidental explosion... MORE

During the first six months of 2012, the export of refined oil products from Belarus has grown by $2.4 billion compared with the same period in 2011, and the export of solvents has grown by $1.8 billion (to the total of $2.5 billion)—thus reversing the... MORE

With the approach of parliamentary elections in Georgia on October 1, the intensity of political struggle in the country is increasing. The Georgian elections are a historical opportunity for the country to make a political transition via democratic elections. Until now, leaders have come to... MORE

This week it was officially disclosed in Moscow and Washington that during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok earlier this month Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his United States counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that the foreign aid agency USAID must curtail... MORE

On September 11, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Defense, visited Dushanbe to take part in bilateral talks concerning the extension of Russia’s basing rights for their 201st motorized rifle division (BBC Tajiki, September 13). He met with Tajikistan’s commission headed by Minister of Justice... MORE

On September 14, in Cherkessk, Circassian youth activists from Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygea and the Stavropol region adopted an appeal to President Vladimir Putin concerning the situation in Karachaevo-Cherkessia. The activists protested repeated attempts by the Karachaevo-Cherkessian police to seize Circassian flags from them during public... MORE

A row between Bulgaria and Russia over compensation for the scrapped Belene nuclear power plant (NPP) project threatens to delay the start of the South Stream gas pipeline, the Kremlin’s strategic energy corridor intended to bypass Ukraine in supplying Russian gas to Europe. On the... MORE

Ukraine has indicated that a cut in Russian natural gas purchases will be deeper next year than expected thus far, to 24.5 billion cubic meters (bcm). This means that Ukrainian gas imports from Russia will be below contractual volumes for the third year in a... MORE

Russia is staging a number of military exercises in September and October as part of the training year for its Armed Forces, designed to road test elements of its ongoing conventional forces reform, promote defense cooperation and strengthen the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Although... MORE