(Continued from yesterday's issue) Transdniester is one of only two places in the former Soviet Union--the other is Abkhazia--in which the August 1991 putsch was successful, with the local leaders retaining their power into the post-Soviet era. In Transdniester, that continuity is both political and... MORE

After several days of confusion, Russia's Defense and Foreign Ministries moved yesterday to clarify Kremlin policy with regard to peacekeeping in Afghanistan by stating categorically that Russian troops would not be a part of any international force dispatched to the war-ravaged country. At the same... MORE

Less than a week remains before the Moscow City Duma elections, set for this Sunday, December 16. Thus far the election campaign in the Russian capital, unlike those in most of Russia's regions, has been unusually quiet. It became clear there would be no serious... MORE

The leadership of Transdniester is now marking--though not exactly celebrating--the tenth anniversary of its secession from Moldova and acquisition of the trappings of statehood. Those trappings, of which its security apparatus is the centerpiece, Tiraspol received from the hands of the moribund Soviet authorities and... MORE

Azerbaijan is currently the fastest-growing economy in the CIS, with GDP up by 9.3 percent in the first three quarters of 2001 and by 9.4 percent through October. In 2000 the country achieved 11.4 percent GDP growth, largely because higher oil prices boosted exports, but... MORE

Despite such progress, Azerbaijan's relations with the international financial community are currently uncertain, and the country Azerbaijan is not expected to receive any new funding from the World Bank or International Monetary Fund before the first quarter of 2002. Azerbaijan reached agreement with the IMF... MORE

Secretary of State Colin Powell conferred on December 9 in Astana with President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Foreign Affairs Minister Yerlan Idrisov and military officials of Kazakhstan. Powell handed an invitation from President George W. Bush to Nazarbaev to pay an official visit to the United States... MORE

On December 8 in Tashkent, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell conferred with President Islam Karimov, Foreign Affairs Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov and Defense Minister Kadyr Ghulamov on Uzbekistan's contribution to U.S.-led antiterrorist operations. That contribution stems from the agreements sealed in Tashkent in early October... MORE

United States Air Force C-130 Hercules transport planes began landing at the Manas international airport near Bishkek on December 8, delivering the first batches of equipment to service the U.S. fighter-bombers to will be deployed there. A snowstorm briefly interrupted the action on December 9,... MORE

Russian and U.S. diplomats, meeting over the weekend in Brussels and Moscow, reaffirmed their adherence to the strategic partnership that has joined Moscow and Washington since the start of the U.S.-led antiterror war earlier this fall. Yet, despite agreement on a new mechanism aimed at... MORE