The First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Army-General Nikolai Makarov, during a press conference this week lambasted the Russian defense industry, which is producing expensive, but low quality armament inferior to Western products. Makarov declared the Russian... MORE

Heavy winter conditions have strained natural gas supplies in Turkey, shedding critical light on the country’s over reliance on hydrocarbons. Due to the record increases in household consumption and electricity demand, which coincided with interruptions in gas imports from Iran and Azerbaijan, concerns were raised... MORE

The Ukrainian authorities’ decision to close a popular file-sharing service has almost provoked a revolution on the local Internet. Following a crackdown on ex.ua, which is Ukraine’s most popular source of pirated videos and music, hackers flattened government websites – while the local media and... MORE

On February 8, the newspaper Kommersant shed light on the current situation of the prominent Ingush militant leader Emir Magas (aka Ali Taziev, Ahmed Yevloev) – the only high-profile militant leader captured by the Russian security services alive in the past few years. In June... MORE

Latvia is holding on February 18 a constitutional referendum on an anti-constitutional proposition. Initiated by local Russian fringe-nationalists and pushed by the local Russian party, Harmony Center, it would confer the status of a parallel state language on the Russian language in Latvia. The referendum... MORE

Armenia’s government seems to be pressing ahead with its ambitious plans to replace the aging nuclear power station at Metsamor, with a new plant meeting modern safety standards. Having secured Moscow’s support for and participation in the project, the government is now actively looking for... MORE

On February 7 in Berlin, the German and Kazakhstani governments signed an agreement on “partnership in the raw materials, industrial and technological spheres.” Chancellor Angela Merkel and Kazakhstan’s visiting president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, witnessed the signing. The agreement focuses on rare-earth metals. These represent a world-class... MORE

Despite the scale of the challenges facing Russia’s adoption of network-centric approaches to warfare, senior officials consistently emphasize sixth-generation capabilities as the fundamental driver in defense modernization plans. On February 10, Vadim Malyukov, the Head of the Main Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces and... MORE

A controversial plan approved by Tajikistan’s Ministry of Agriculture to lease 6,000 hectares of land to China for development has been met with suspicion by some members of the country’s political opposition. Chinese officials have pledged $2 million of direct investment, including new technology and... MORE

On February 9, masked South Ossetian police stormed the headquarters of local opposition politician Alla Jioeva in Tskhinvali. Shortly after the raiding police ravaged the building, one of Jioeva’s supporters was arrested, and Jioeva herself was taken to a local hospital with a stroke. The... MORE