On March 20, leaders of Kyrgyzstan's main opposition parties made public a common decision to create an alliance "in defense of human rights and the rule of law." The alliance will call itself the "Popular Front of Democratic Forces." Its composition suggests that this alliance... MORE

Relations between Russia and the United States have begun more and more to emulate the path of the Mir space station; that is, after a long period in which bilateral ties suffered a slow but steady loss of altitude they seem, after the start of... MORE

This week saw the publication of polling data indicating that public support for restrictions on the media is growing while support for the military operation in Chechnya has dropped off significantly. According to a poll carried out by the Public Opinion Foundation, 57 percent of... MORE

In an article published this week, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica claimed that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has become personally involved in the Swiss law enforcement authorities' request to extradite Pavel Borodin, the Russia-Belarus union state secretary and former Kremlin property manager, who... MORE

Alone among the Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan boasts a manufacturing sector with a sizable engineering component. Its automotive industry is often regarded as the jewel in its manufacturing crown: Uzbekistan, Russia and Ukraine are the only CIS countries which can claim to produce significant amounts... MORE

Consolidation and stabilization continue to mark Kazakhstan's financial sector. Although the financial sector as a whole represents only 15 percent of GDP, Kazakhstan has one of the most developed banking systems in the CIS. The banking system withstood the shocks of the 1998 Russian financial... MORE

Despite nearly a decade of discussion, Russian lawmakers this week appear no closer to approving a piece of legislation--a law on alternative military service--which many believe is crucial to the health of both Russia's armed forces and the country's development as a democratic society. The... MORE

Anatoly Chubais--head of United Energy Systems (UES), Russia's electricity grid, and architect of the country's controversial 1990s privatization process--may be facing punishment for the energy crisis in the Primorsky Krai region of Russia's Far East this past winter. According to a newspaper report published today,... MORE

Police in Djohar [Grozny], the Chechen capital, announced yesterday that they had arrested three persons suspected of involvement in murders the city's Leninsk district. Earlier this week, Chechen law enforcement authorities announced that ten people, at least eight of them ethnic Russians, had been murdered... MORE

On March 20, twelve members of the Lithuanian parliament endorsed draft anti-NATO legislation, under which Lithuania would have declared itself a neutral country and renounced NATO membership. Parliament, however, voted overwhelmingly against placing the bill--the first of its kind in a parliament of a Baltic... MORE