The Yerevan summit also discussed the groups of forces on the "western" (that is, Central European) and the South Caucasus flanks of the three-tiered CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST). Unlike the multilateral Central Asian tier, those in Central Europe and in the South Caucasus are... MORE

Some nine months after the still-unexplained loss of the nuclear powered submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea, Russian government officials continue to mismanage the tragedy. Russian authorities, including President Vladimir Putin, were roundly criticized in the wake of the Kursk's August 12 demise for the... MORE

Sibneft, the Russian oil company said to be controlled by Chukotka Governor Roman Abramovich, has reportedly become the focus of new criminal probes. An unnamed official from the Prosecutor General's Office was quoted yesterday as saying that it plans to summon Abramovich in the near... MORE

The new probe by the Prosecutor General's Office into the Sibneft oil company may also involve Kremlin administration chief Aleksandr Voloshin, who reportedly played a role in some of the mid-1990s' controversial privatization deals (Novaya Gazeta, May 28). Novaya Gazeta investigative journalist Oleg Lurye reported... MORE

While international attention and, at times, media hype remain focused on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), the secular order in Central Asia is being challenged on a far broader front if more quietly by the Islamic Party of Liberation (Hizb ut Tahrir). Their inherent... MORE

Rumors of an impending Russian-Syrian arms deal grew hot again this week during a visit to Moscow by Syria's secretive defense minister. Mustafa Tlass, who also serves as Syria's deputy prime minister and is considered among the most powerful men in the country, arrived in... MORE

A Kremlin-sponsored bill that would eliminate a large number of Russia's many political parties and place the remaining under closer state supervision passed the State Duma yesterday in a second reading. The bill remains on the whole unchanged from what its drafters at the Central... MORE

The draft law on political parties was approved overwhelmingly in its second Duma reading by a vote of 261-56, with one abstention. It was supported most strongly by the Yabloko and the People's Deputy factions, both of which voted unanimously in favor. The Unity, Fatherland-All... MORE

This week in Yerevan and a week later in Minsk, CIS summits have witnessed and will witness intensified efforts to create a political-military bloc under Russia's leadership, ostensibly in order to combat international terrorism. Such sloganeering aside, the national threat assessments by member countries regarding... MORE

On May 23, a month after Ukraine's parliament (Verkhovna Rada) voted no confidence in its liberal prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko, President Leonid Kuchma nominated a candidate to replace him. On May 29, the Rada members will cast their votes for or against Anatoly Kinakh, 46,... MORE