These improvements in the country's fiscal and growth prospects should also improve Kazakhstan's investment environment. This was apparent in Astana's ability to float eurobonds during September and November, at a time when no other CIS economies were sufficiently creditworthy to tap the international capital markets.... MORE

On December 17, Karabakh president Arkady Gukasian dismissed Lieutenant-General Samvel Babaian from the post of commander of Karabakh's defense forces. The Karabakh military command, Karabakh's branch of the powerful political-paramilitary organization Yerkrapah [Country Defender] and nearly half of Karabakh's legislature had been on Babaian's side,... MORE

Despite a vow by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on December 16 that Washington intended to deliver a "strong message" to Moscow, U.S. hesitancy was reportedly behind a failure of Group of Seven nations a day later to threaten punitive steps against Russia if... MORE

Besides the Communists, the major winners of the contest, Unity and the Union of Right-wing Forces (SPS), had two key elements in common: They openly embraced and received support from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and they backed the war in Chechnya. Indeed, Putin, who "as... MORE

As of noon today, Moscow time, 80 percent of the results were in from yesterday's election for the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament. The results showed the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) in first place with 24.54 percent of the... MORE

Delays in privatization and other reforms have not yet jeopardized IMF and World Bank loans to Azerbaijan. The IMF approved US$130 million in loans in January and is now discussing programs worth an additional US$200 million. The World Bank is also expected to provide loans... MORE

Prime Minister Artur Rasizade of Azerbaijan announced on December 8 that the country's long-awaited second privatization program would resume in early 2000. The announcement followed President Haidar Aliev's removal of leading officials within the State Property Ministry (SPC) earlier this month (Reuters, December 6, 8).... MORE

Armenia's most muscular political force, the Yerkrapah [Country Defender] Union, has openly raised the issue of removing the country's president, Robert Kocharian, from office. Yerkrapah, an 8,000-strong paramilitary organization beholden to Vazgen Sarkisian and his successors, is over-represented in the governing Republican Party and dominates... MORE

Yesterday's oral onslaught from Moscow came as foreign ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrialized countries and Russia gathered for talks today in Berlin. There is little doubt that the war in Chechnya will be among the topics which dominate those talks. Organization for... MORE

On the eve of yet another international gathering expected to focus on the war in Chechnya, and with only a few days left until parliamentary elections at home, Moscow yesterday kept up its Cold War-era style attacks on the West. President Boris Yeltsin, fresh from... MORE