Kazakhstan held parliamentary and local elections a month after clashes between protesting oil workers and police left 17 dead in the western city of Zhanaozen on December 16, 2011. The violent riots followed by police shooting took place on the day Kazakhstan celebrated the twentieth... MORE

Lieutenant-General Vladimir Shamanov, the commander of the elite Russian airborne forces (Vozdushno Desantnye Voyska – VDV), turns 55 on February 15, 2012. The significance of his forthcoming birthday, the retirement age for an officer of his rank, prompted speculation in the Russian media concerning his... MORE

On December 20, 2011, members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) reached an agreement that makes it impossible for any individual country in the group to host a foreign military base on its territory without the full consent of all other members of the... MORE

In an interview published on December 27, 2011, the chairman of the Circassian organization Khase, Ibragim Yaganov, scathingly criticized the Russian government for its policies in Kabardino-Balkaria. Yaganov, who is based in Kabardino-Balkaria, is a well-known public figure among Circassians. In an interview with the... MORE

There were no New Year holidays for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his sycophants because the need to take back the political initiative from the opposition was urgent. The next mass rally in Moscow is scheduled for February 4, so they had only three weeks... MORE

On December 23, for four hours President Alyaksandr Lukashenka responded to questions from domestic and foreign journalists. He expressed certainty that the financial crisis, caused by price hikes on oil and gas, rash imports of used cars, and by the mistakes in fiscal policy, will... MORE

Surveys and polls show there is widespread popular anger, frustration and contempt for the Viktor Yanukovych administration that has managed to anger many different groups in every Ukrainian region. Imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko (16.3 percent) is more popular than Yanukovych (13.3 percent) whose popularity... MORE

In Dagestan, two policemen were wounded today (January 13) when a police road patrol unit was attacked in the town of Izerbash. A Dagestani law-enforcement source reported that the incident took place shortly after midnight when gunmen driving in a car opened fire on the... MORE

Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda, an influential Tajik cleric and political figure, and his brother Nuriddin (aka Eshoni Nuriddin) have come under fire for accusing the head of Tajikistan’s Council of the Ulema, Saidmukarram Abduqodirzoda, of sympathizing with the beliefs of the banned Islamic group “Salafia” (BBC... MORE

In accordance with a tradition that has been in place since 2005, Ramzan Kadyrov rang in 2012 with his estimate of the number of insurgents in Chechnya. Citing numerous operational sources, he stated that there are only 50 or fewer militants left in the republic.... MORE