On July 18, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka dismissed the chairman of the National Bank of Belarus, Pyotr Prakapovich. Last month, Lukashenka asserted that the latter had “made mistakes” (Bloomberg, June 23). No replacement was announced, so in the meantime Yury Alymov continues as acting chairman.One... MORE

Army-General Nikolai Makarov, the Chief of the General Staff has attempted to end the constant vacillation by the Russian defense ministry on the critical issue of the future of military manpower. Although much of his thinking on this relates to a process lasting several years,... MORE

Georgia’s official presidential photographer, another photographer who was an Internal Affairs Ministry contract employee, and the Tbilisi representative of the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA), have all pleaded guilty and received suspended sentences on espionage charges. The three were in pre-trial detention since July 7, suspected... MORE

A team of international inspectors acting under the aegis of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has given a largely positive assessment of the operational safety of Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear power plant. Its recently publicized preliminary findings are putting the Armenian government in a better... MORE

On July 12, the leader of the German Green party Cem Oezdemir resigned from the board of trustees of Germany’s Quadriga fund. Oezdemir was one of the first public figures to protest Quadriga’s plan to give an award to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He... MORE

On July 5, Sergei Konovalov treated the world to the birth of military opposition to Russia’s “New Look” defense reforms. According to Konovalov, three senior officers had resigned from their posts and been retired (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, July 5). The resignations of Lieutenant-General Andrei Tretyak, Lieutenant-General... MORE

On July 14, Tajik authorities released Urunboy Usmonov, a local correspondent for the BBC’s Uzbek service, who spent one month in pre-trial detention on suspicion of belonging to a banned Islamic group. It appears that the unusual publicity and widespread international criticism generated by Usmonov’s... MORE

Although Ukraine has mended fences with Russia and made progress in the political association and free trade talks with the EU since Viktor Yanukovych’s election as president in February 2010, additional movement in both directions simultaneously is hardly possible. The multivector policy, which was chosen... MORE

A series of rebel attacks were reported this past week in Dagestan, graphically illustrating that the republic remains the epicenter of insurgent activity in the North Caucasus.In Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala today (July 22), gunmen targeted Col. Akhmed Bataliev, the head of the republic’s center for... MORE

President Dmitry Medvedev and Chancellor Angela Merkel led the Russian-German Interstate Consultations on July 19-20 in Hannover. This annual event, with the collective participation of Russian and German government ministers and industry leaders, punctuates the gradual integration in key economic sectors of the two countries.Germany’s... MORE