On February 28, President Dmitry Medvedev appointed two heads of North Caucasian republics, Karachaevo-Cherkessia and Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov was reappointed to rule Chechnya since his first term as head of the republic was about to expire. Karachaevo-Cherkessia received a new leader, 34-year-old Rashid Temrezov, while... MORE

The Tajik government has recently taken steps to put the country’s mosques, imams (prayer-leaders) and madrasahs (Islamic schools) under greater centralized control. Speaking at the country’s Security Council meeting on February 10, President Emomali Rahmon urged more decisive measures against the unchecked proliferation of mosques.... MORE

On February 25, the Kremlin reacted angrily to an article that appeared on the same day in Nezavisimaya Gazeta in which Vladimir Mukhin alleged that responsibility for military reform had passed to the Security Council. Russian presidential press secretary, Natalya Timakova, denied that the defense... MORE

The meeting of the European Commission and the Russian government on February 24 in Brussels featured the largest-ever format in the history of such meetings. Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, and 13 members of his cabinet of ministers attended, as well as almost the entire... MORE

On February 22, Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva said that the country’s major criminal kingpin, Kamchy Kolbayev, was placed on the government’s wanted list. Although many in Kyrgyzstan know about Kolbayev’s criminal’s activity, Otunbayeva’s announcement symbolizes the Kyrgyz police’s attempt to tackle the criminal underworld. Whether... MORE

On February 27, a counterterrorist operation regime in Kabardino-Balkaria was extended to parts of the republican capital Nalchik, and the Chegem and Cherek districts. The counterterrorist operation had been established earlier in parts of the Elbrus and Baksan districts. The introduction of a counterterrorist operation... MORE

The shockingly violent civil war in Libya has pushed the Russian leadership to re-evaluate the nature and the impact of the revolutions that keep shaking the Arab world. Worries in the Kremlin are very different from concerns in Washington about the departure of such loyal... MORE

On February 24 in Brussels, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin led a governmental delegation for talks with the European Commission on the full range of EU-Russia relations. The Russian delegation lobbied heavily for EU endorsement of Gazprom’s South Stream project. It also raised strong objections... MORE

On February 21, Kazakhstan’s Central Election Commission announced that 22 candidates had submitted their applications to participate in the upcoming presidential election scheduled for April 3, but only 14 were successful. Seven applicants, according to the Central Election Commission, were removed from the list of... MORE

There are increasing signs that North Caucasus style unrest may be spreading to nearby Krasnodar Krai, in particular to Sochi, the planned site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Authorities in Sochi today (February 25) defused an improvised explosive device (IED) that had been placed on... MORE