Both the European Union and the United States are stepping up pressure on the Belarusian regime, which is targeted because of its continuing violations of human rights and treatment of political prisoners, as well as its introduction of new laws, the most recent of which... MORE

On January 23, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin published an article about ethnic relations in the Russian Federation. This was Putin’s second article to appear in the Russian press recently as he gears up for presidential elections in the country in March 2012. To a... MORE

The Russian economy generates no drivers for a political crisis – this elementary proposition underpins Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s steady march to the presidential elections that are just six weeks away. He returns to the good economic news in every speech and article arguing that... MORE

Since Viktor Yanukovych’s election victory, four strategies have been adopted against the opposition that in particular targets Yulia Tymoshenko and her eponymous bloc (BYuT). BYuT became the dominant national democratic party in the last decade increasing its share of the vote from 7 percent (2002),... MORE

The elections just held in Kazakhstan have successfully accomplished the limited goal of moving from a single-party to a multi-party parliament. This political opening has come about by decision of the state leadership. This decision marks one step in an evolutionary process of broadening political... MORE

Kazakhstan’s President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, indicated at the time of his re-election in 2011 that conditions were ripe for moving from a single-party to a multi-party parliament. Toward that goal, pre-term elections were held on January 15, 2012 to the parliament’s lower chamber, the 107-seat Majlis.... MORE

In Dagestan today (January 20), three alleged militants were killed in a shootout with security forces in the republic’s Khasavyurt district. According to the Anti-Terrorist Committee, two of the slain suspects were identified as 25-year-old twin brothers Sabit and Said Akaev, who, according to the... MORE

Although the newly-elected Kyrgyz President, Almazbek Atambayev, received significant Kremlin support in the run up to last year’s elections, Turkey was his first formal destination as the head of state. During a meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Atambayev invited Turkey, along... MORE

The Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot) website has published the statistics for casualties in the North Caucasus in 2011. The figures, compiled using open sources, allow us to draw a range of interesting conclusions. First of all, it is peculiar that the number of those wounded... MORE

In late December 2011, when Russian politicians and the public were preparing to spend almost two weeks off duty celebrating the New Year, President Dmitry Medvedev appointed the flamboyant anti-Western nationalist politician Dmitry Rogozin, as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the defense industry and... MORE