The chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Kabardino-Balkaria, Anas Pshikhachev, was murdered on December 15 in the republic’s capital, Nalchik. An official with Kabardino-Balkaria’s Investigative Committee was quoted as saying that two unidentified men arrived at the mufti’s home, asked him to come... MORE

Belarus seeks to reduce its near total dependence on Russian oil by diversifying the range of supplier countries and import routes. Belarus’ massive oil-processing industry is largely export-oriented and a top currency earner for the national economy. It processes some 22 million tons of crude... MORE

Receiving a small group of US analysts in Minsk (EDM, December 15), President, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, appealed to the United States to develop a multi-track policy toward Belarus, instead of a single-dimensional policy [implying democracy-promotion divorced from everything else]. The free-wheeling discussion of almost three hours,... MORE

After the first unsuccessful attempt to form a ruling coalition, Kyrgyz Members of Parliament (MP’s) have attempted to re-establish one. Under the Respublika Party’s leadership, the Social-Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK) and the Ata-Jurt Party joined a new coalition. Similar to the earlier effort, the... MORE

On December 19, ten candidates will contest the Belarusian presidency. The election has been notably open, with several opposition candidates reaching out for support from Moscow, and the European Union offering encouragement to the incumbent president conditional on some basic requirements for a democratic process.... MORE

Rioting by nationalist youths and football fans on December 11, in Moscow was followed by fresh outbreaks of violence on December 15. Russian and non-Russian rioters known in Russia as “Caucasians” –representing different ethnic groups from the North and South Caucasus– are reported to have... MORE

The prospects for resolving the Karabakh conflict are as uncertain as ever after the inability of Armenia and Azerbaijan’s presidents to reach any tangible agreements on the margins of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit in Astana on December 1-2. It... MORE

On December 11, the largest ever Russian nationalist riots in modern Russia broke out in Moscow. The protesters, consisting of about 5,000 soccer fans and members of several Russian nationalist organizations, gathered at Manezh Square, which is adjacent to the Kremlin and Red Square. They... MORE

Despite the statements from the NATO Lisbon summit about partnership with Russia, it did not take long for Moscow to demonstrate why partnership with it is so difficult, as well as revealing why there is little East-West trust. On November 30, RIA Novosti rebuffed a... MORE

On December 14 in Minsk, Belarusian President, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, received a small group of US analysts for a discussion on US-Belarus relations. The group, drawn from several Washington think-tanks, visited Belarus at its own initiative, from a variety of policy and professional interests. Lukashenka’s unprecedented... MORE