The ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) and TAP (Trans-Adriatic Pipeline), with planned capacities at 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually for each, require no further sourcing beyond Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field, Phase Two. Both ITGI and TAP are headed for southeastern Italy. The Nabucco project, however, is... MORE

On August 15, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev promised he will end the contract with Washington on the US Transit Center in Bishkek in 2014, when the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) plans to withdraw from Afghanistan. “The contract for the Transit Center will expire... MORE

It has become a tradition that August is an especially volatile month in the North Caucasus. This year has not been an exception, with the situation in the North Caucasus becoming more aggravated, especially in those regions that were relatively quiet in the preceding time... MORE

This week a major air show, MAKS-2011, opened near Moscow. The first MAKS air show was in 1993, and has since been held biannually, primarily to demonstrate Russia’s capability to build modern civilian and military aircraft, anti-aircraft and space missiles. The production of Russian civilian... MORE

Three pipeline project consortiums (Nabucco, ITGI, and TAP) compete against each other over priority access to gas production in Azerbaijan. The transporters’ contest is now intensifying as the deadline draws near for submitting proposals to the gas producers’ consortium in Azerbaijan.Although their respective merits are... MORE

The Soviet abuse of psychiatry for political purposes isolated thousands of political and religious prisoners in psychiatric hospitals. Some of these practices continued in post-Soviet countries such as Russia and Uzbekistan, but have only been reported in Ukraine since 2010 – the year in which... MORE

On August 15, the newspaper Kommersant, quoting sources in the Russian security services, reported that the Federal Security Service (FSB) had thwarted a major terrorist attack in Moscow region. A group of young North Caucasians allegedly planned to derail the high speed Sapsan train that... MORE

The Russian government plans to privatize a number of its state-owned companies, focusing on the energy and commodity sectors. However, the cabinet faces a challenging task to prove that the latest privatization efforts will be more efficient than earlier controversial moves to sell-off state-owned assets.Russia’s... MORE

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is unlikely to receive a very warm welcome during his state visit to Tajikistan scheduled for September. The gradually cooling relations between the two countries have hit a new low after Boris Gryzlov, the speaker of the lower house of Russia’s... MORE

Since the transformation of the Russian armed forces began in October 2008, senior political and military leaders have promised to improve command and control (C2) both in terms of force structure as well as by means of introducing new technology. President Dmitry Medvedev has set... MORE