Although the Georgian economy likely recorded an acceptable level of growth in 2001, the country's future economic position continues to be threatened by a number of different factors. First are internal and external security concerns. But Georgia is also facing problems with fiscal, trade and... MORE

TV-6, Russia's last major privately owned national television channel, went off the air last night at midnight, Moscow time, when the Press Ministry acted to comply with a court order that it immediately suspend the channel's license. The order, which bailiffs delivered yesterday, was pursuant... MORE

Voters in the North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia-Alaniya are to elect their president on January 27. The campaign has already been disrupted by a series of violent incidents. On January 16, the republic's Supreme Court revoked the candidacy of one of the two leading... MORE

Ingushetia's former president, Ruslan Aushev, long considered one of Russia's most powerful regional leaders, has left his post for good and does not plan to return to it. He has no plans, however, to leave high politics altogether. On January 16, the Federation Council accepted... MORE

Responding to international intercession, Uzbekistan has released two high-profile critics of the authorities, journalist Shodi Mardiev and poet Yusuf Juma, from detention. Mardiev, a reporter with the Samarkand state-owned radio station, had been serving an eleven-year prison term, handed down in 1997, for defaming and... MORE

On January 16, Afghanistan's interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai issued a decree banning the cultivation and trading of opium poppy, as well as its processing into heroin or other derivatives. The decree responds to a resumption of poppy cultivation in some parts of Afghanistan, and... MORE

A two-day visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Poland last week--the first by a Russian head of state since 1993--provided further evidence that the deep chill in relations between the two countries may be finally drawing to a close. But those hoping that the... MORE

Seven Interior Ministry soldiers died on Friday (January 18) when a bomb exploded in Makhachkala, Dagestan's capital. The incident took place around 8 PM, Moscow time, when a remote control bomb filled with nails and screws was detonated as a military truck carrying some thirty... MORE

In 2001, the Ukrainian economy recorded its best performance since independence, with GDP growth at between 8 percent and 9 percent and industrial output rising by a stunning 14.2 percent. Year-on-year consumer price inflation dropped to an all-time low of 6.1 percent in December 2001... MORE

Following weeks of internal fighting and attempts to force the government to change its budget assumptions, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (parliament) approved the 2002 state budget on December 13, 2001. The document projects a deficit of 1.7 percent of GDP in line with the requirements set... MORE