An unprecedented procession of foreign statesmen has passed through Tbilisi in recent weeks. Kicked off by Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, the series continued with visits by British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Azerbaijani President Haidar Aliev and, just last week, Turkish Defense... MORE

The Russian media continues to swirl with rumors about what actions President-elect Vladimir Putin may or may not take in regard to the country's powerful "oligarchs." The newspaper Vedomosti--a joint venture with the Wall Street Journal and the Financial times and thus not directly under... MORE

Relations between Russia and the European Union (EU) appeared yesterday to hit yet another speed bump over the war in Chechnya following a report by Itar-Tass that high-level talks between the two sides, scheduled for early next week, have been postponed. The report, based on... MORE

Yesterday's EU-Moscow-Chechnya developments came as UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson arrived in the Russian capital to start a four-day visit which will also take her to the Caucasus. Robinson has been a vocal critic of Russian military actions in Chechnya and her condemnations of... MORE

A battle is continuing for the village of Dzhani-Vedeno, located in southern Chechnya's Vedeno region. On March 29, two armored columns of the Perm OMON special police units were ambushed on the outskirts of the village. Sergei Yastrzhembsky, President-elect Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Chechnya, said... MORE

The military exercise "Southern Shield of the Commmonwealth-2000" entered its active phase on March 28 in Tajikistan. Armor, motor-rifle, paratroop, border troops and air defense units as well as general staff groups of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will participate in the joint exercise on... MORE

With the onset of spring weather, the governments in Central Asia--except that of Turkmenistan--fear a repetition of the 1999 Islamic insurgency which targeted Kyrgyzstan as an initial objective, with Uzbekistan as the real goal. Uzbek army and internal security troops held a combined exercise from... MORE

President Nursultan Nazarbaev has appointed Colonel-General Mukhtar Altynbaev to the post of commander of Kazakhstan's air defense forces, in place of a retiring incumbent (Itar-Tass, March 24; Xinhua, March 25). Any holder of that post must enjoy full Russian confidence, in view of the existing... MORE

Less than a week after Russia's presidential election, incongruities already appear to be emerging in Moscow's "Putin-era" foreign policy. That, at least, seemed to be the case yesterday during an address to leading Russian cultural figures delivered by Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Recent reports out... MORE

The essence of Russia's new, "Putin-era" foreign policy is apparently contained in the draft Foreign Policy Concept paper approved by the Russian Security Council on March 24. Unfortunately, few details have been released on the substance of the new document. In institutional terms, Russian sources... MORE