The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) security agenda has been boosted in recent years through promoting multilateral counter-terrorist cooperation. One important feature in this counter-terrorist cooperation is the staging of Peace Mission joint military exercises ostensibly designed to test and strengthen the capability of the SCO... MORE

On June 6-7, 2012, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its 12th annual summit in Beijing. The meeting’s major outputs included granting Afghanistan observer status, designating Turkey as an SCO “dialogue partner,” and adopting several declarations and agreements.  President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan joined Presidents... MORE

On June 19, Amnesty International issued a report titled “The Circle of Injustice: Security Operations and Human Rights Violations in Ingushetia.” The report points to five republics where armed groups strike most often: Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria. Although Amnesty International recognizes that... MORE

Economic preaching and demagogy shaped debates in Russia last week as President Vladimir Putin partook in the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attended the UN Conference on Sustainable Development hosted by Brazil. At the same time, the St. Petersburg... MORE

Russian state-controlled companies, Gazprom and Rosneft, mapped out far-reaching expansion programs in bilateral deals with Western companies at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 21-22. Russian President Vladimir Putin coordinated the overall process (Interfax, June 21 – 23; Kommersant, June 22). In parallel... MORE

Against the backdrop of the general security situation across the North Caucasus, where in May alone 164 people were victims of the conflict between the government and the armed opposition, the situation in Chechnya appears to be less intense. Violence in the republic in May... MORE

Last month, energy ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan signed a protocol on the construction of power lines within the CASA-1000 (Central Asia-South Asia) project (www.tazabek.kg, May 23). If completed, CASA would allow Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to supply electricity to Pakistan through Afghanistan, becoming... MORE

Anti-Taliban leaders of the former Northern Alliance coexist uneasily with the Kabul government and NATO in Afghanistan’s north. There, China proposes to explore and develop oil and gas fields and to build a transit pipeline for Turkmenistani gas via Afghanistan to China. The coexistence in... MORE

Moscow has reacted with concern after learning about the ongoing talks between Washington and three Central Asian countries aimed at agreeing on the handover of equipment linked to the NATO drawdown in Afghanistan. Russian officials fear that such equipment donations to the Armed Forces in... MORE

Bulgaria is under renewed pressure from Russia to sign the final investment agreement on the South Stream gas pipeline by November 15, 2012. Otherwise, Gazprom threatens to forsake the promised 11 percent discount for natural gas supplies, which was supposed to be given for the... MORE