Moscow’s apparently random decision to increase tensions with Tokyo over the disputed Kurile Islands provoked anxiety among international observers. Yet, the recent surge in bilateral diplomatic heat over the issue should not be regarded as unexpected or necessarily as an illustration of Moscow picking a... MORE

After selling a large block of shares in Hungarian MOL to the Kremlin-connected Surgutneftegaz, Austrian OMV CEO Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer’s final gift to European energy security is an agreement with Gazprom that interferes with the EU-backed Nabucco project. On February 21 in Moscow, Gazprom CEO Aleksei... MORE

After experiencing a tumultuous 2010, Kyrgyzstan is facing yet another decisive test this year. Presidential elections planned for November-December 2011 will determine whether the positive trends seen in the past few months in Kyrgyzstan will continue after the incumbent leader Roza Otunbayeva steps down. The... MORE

Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, paid a four-day state visit to Iran starting on February 13, to discuss ways to further bilateral cooperation. The sheer frequency of such high level mutual visits between the two countries in recent years indicates the growing multi-dimensional ties between Ankara... MORE

Insurgency-related violence was reported across the North Caucasus this past week. In Dagestan, an explosion hit a food store in the city of Kizilyurt in the early hours of February 17, injuring a security guard, who was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds to the legs. When... MORE

On February 17, the stakeholders and supervisory board of the Russian-led Burgas-Alexandropolis oil pipeline project shelved the project in all but name. The host countries, Bulgaria and Greece, had (each for its own considerations) recently suspended payments to the project company. The meeting decided to... MORE

In a video address in April 2009 Doku Umarov announced the revival of the Riyadus-Salikhin (Kavkaz Centre, May 17, 2009) – a battalion of martyrs created by the deceased Chechen warlord Shamyl Baev which was responsible for a wave of suicide attacks starting in December... MORE

Uzbek President Islam Karimov has already made two important official visits this year: the first was to Brussels on January 24, where the president met with European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Energy Commissioner, Gunther Oettinger, and NATO Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, among others.... MORE

Russia seems to have found a place to deploy its two most modern French-built assault helicopter-carrying ships – in the Far East to help defend the Kurile Islands. The first Russian Mistral will be built by the end of 2013, the second by 2015 and... MORE

Launched in 2007, Gazprom’s South Stream project ran out of potential gas resources by 2009 (thanks primarily to Turkmenistan’s reorientation), and out of potential financing at the same time (due to Gazprom’s declining net profits in Europe). Since 2010, Gazprom’s Italian partner ENI seeks a... MORE