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

A multitude of rumors and speculation exists about the connection between Islamic radicals from Central Asia and the North Caucasus. The following will seek to separate rumor from reality, while analyzing the breadth, scope and policy consequences of these links. There are, first of all,... MORE

An Agence France Press (AFP) journalist covering the armed Syrian opposition made a statement about the presence of Chechen militants in Syria that alarmed the Russian public. Referring to the French journalist, the Euronews news agency alleged there were militant groups affiliated with al-Qaeda among... MORE

If the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project did not exist, it may have had to be invented (in this or some other form) by the Shah Deniz gas producers’ consortium in Azerbaijan, so as to foster commercial competition between TAP and the Nabucco-West pipeline project. The... MORE

The Trans-Anatolia Pipeline (TANAP) project, initiated by Azerbaijan with Turkey, is the first real boost to the EU-backed Southern Corridor for Caspian gas to Europe. Planned to carry Azerbaijani (and, in due course, also Turkmenistani) gas, TANAP has resurrected the Corridor’s centerpiece, the Nabucco pipeline... MORE

Much of the July 24 hearing of the Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (for Part One of this article, detailing security issues, see EDM, August 1) focused on how to promote US economic goals in Central Asia, as well... MORE

On July 18, Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev paid an official visit to Minsk. Medvedev’s visit was somewhat clouded by the July 4 penetration of Belarus’s airspace by a light Swedish plane that took off in Lithuania and dropped 1,000 toy teddy bears carrying human... MORE