April 7 became yet another day of momentous change in Kyrgyzstan. More than 70 people died during clashes with police, and roughly 1,000 were injured in anti-government protests across the country (www.diesel.elcat.kg, April 8). The scope of causalities is unprecedented in Kyrgyzstan. Spontaneous protests erupted... MORE

Today in the Czech capital Prague, Presidents, Barack Obama, and Dmitry Medvedev, signed a new treaty to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that expired last December. Within seven years of the new treaty being ratified by the US Senate and the Russian... MORE

The US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, visited Uzbekistan as part of a tour of several Central Asian states during February 17-21. At that time, Holbrooke held talks with Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, regarding the US-led offensive in Afghanistan and related international... MORE

The end of March 2010 turned out to be eventful in the North Caucasus. First of all, on March 24 the leader of Kabardino-Balkaria’s Yarmuk Jamaat, Anzor Astemirov, was killed in Nalchik, the republic’s capital. Astemirov, known more widely by the name Emir Seifullah (Kommersant,... MORE

While the Russian press has noted the pledges from Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar, members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, to begin the ratification process on the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) immediately after its signing in Prague on April 8,... MORE

Unfortunately, the terrorist attacks committed in the Moscow metro early in the morning of March 29 were not the first and there is no reason to assume they will be the last. The explosions were set off in a public place in order to cause... MORE

On April 3, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Andrey Denisov, noted the generally positive change in the atmosphere between Moscow and Washington, but remarked that the relationship lacks “content.” The increased intensity in bilateral meetings, in his view, needs to be complemented by quality, rather than... MORE

After intense negotiations and the intervention of both President Barack Obama, and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, Moscow and Washington announced on March 26 that a new treaty limiting strategic offensive weapons will be signed during April in Prague, replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction... MORE

The main reaction of Circassians living in their historical homeland in the North Caucasus to the seminal conference on the Circassian “genocide” issue held in Tbilisi appeared to be highly positive. Many sounded very enthusiastic about Georgia’s indication of interest in the problem, which is... MORE

The Russian government is apparently moving to operationalize the nominal “union state” with Belarus through a process of economic absorption. Accession to the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union is not protecting Belarus against this process.Russia’s introduction of export duties on refined oil products and “petrochemical raw material”... MORE