For more than 15 years, the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI) project, which proposes to deliver gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan, has remained an elusive scheme. Backed by the West and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), it is a subject of intense debate... MORE

Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, launched his long-awaited reform program with great fanfare, addressing the nation and parliamentarians from the lavish Soviet-style Ukraina palace in central Kyiv on June 3. The document, which details reform plans in the economic sector for 2010-2014, prepared with the help... MORE

On June 14, President Dmitry Medvedev made an unannounced visit to Chechnya. This was his first trip to Chechnya as president of Russia. The trip resembled a state visit, with the Russian president laying flowers at the grave of Akhmad Kadyrov, the first pro-Moscow president... MORE

On the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit held in Istanbul, Turkey and Azerbaijan concluded agreements on natural gas cooperation. On June 7, during a ceremony attended by Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Recep Erdogan, Azeri President, Ilham... MORE

Armenia is watching, with unease, the latest developments in neighboring Iran’s standoff with the international community over its controversial nuclear program. The new, harsher sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on Tehran last week raise fresh questions over the growing Armenian-Iranian economic ties which... MORE

The momentum of change denoting Russian military reform continues to attract widespread attention among both the critics and advocates of the “new look,” while leaving deeper issues unresolved. By December 2010, the existing six military districts (MD’s) will be replaced by four enlarged operational-strategic commands... MORE

Kyrgyzstan’s interim leader, Roza Otunbayeva, has taken the desperate step of requesting Russian military intervention to quell the violent civil conflict in southern Kyrgyzstan. She presented that request to Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, by telephone and letter on June 11, to Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin,... MORE

What began as a spat among young patrons of a local bar in Osh on the night of June 10 has turned into one of the bloodiest clashes in Kyrgyzstan. Officials to date have reported over 110 dead and thousands injured (www.akipress.kg, June 13). The... MORE

Bulgarian government statements on June 11-12 have conclusively disavowed Russia’s projects to build the South Stream gas pipeline, Burgas-Alexandropolis oil pipeline, and Belene nuclear power plant, on Bulgaria’s territory.These announcements can not be surprising. The government, led by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his GERB... MORE

On June 9, Russian news agencies broke the news about the capture in Malgobek, Ingushetia, of the military commander of the Caucasus Emirate, nicknamed Emir Magas (RIA Novosti, June 9). Such a high-ranking leader of the North Caucasus insurgency had not been apprehended since 2000,... MORE