On November 3 in Dushanbe, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld obtained Tajikistan's consent to the use of three military airfields by American-led antiterrorist forces. The United States has in turn agreed to pay an as yet undisclosed sum, to the order of tens of millions... MORE

Yegor Stroev's re-election as Orel Oblast governor on October 28 was followed by wide speculation over who would replace him as the speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament. According to Russian law, all of the country's governors must hand over... MORE

Events in Yakutia have continued to attract the attention of Russian politicians. Defying the predictions of many observers, the republic's president, Mikhail Nikolaev, last week not only avoided being disqualified from participating in the presidential elections set for December 23, but may even have already... MORE

At long last, after repeated drafts and vetoes and redrafts, Ukraine has a new election law. On October 30, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma signed the legislation setting the rules of the elections to the country's Verkhovna Rada (parliament), the next of which are scheduled for... MORE

Ukraine's government believes that certain mass media, web sites in particular, pose a threat to national security. The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), the supreme advisory body to the president, has suggested that the state should boost its presence on the media market and... MORE

Moscow's recently enhanced presence on the diplomatic stage was in evidence once again this past weekend as the Russian capital hosted a brief visit by a key European leader--German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder--even as it prepared for the arrival of Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,... MORE

The problematic political and law-and-order situation in Dagestan was given fresh confirmation on Friday (November 2), when, just days after the double murder of the republic's deputy prime minister and a leading banker, an attempt was made on the life of Said Amirov, mayor of... MORE

Georgia's long-simmering political malaise has suddenly boiled over as a political crisis. On November 1, President Eduard Shevardnadze released all government ministers from their posts, and the parliamentary speaker resigned. The political crisis is unfolding against the backdrop of Russian military pressures, conflict with Abkhazia,... MORE

President Saparmurat Niazov, who single-handedly determines Turkmenistan's policy, is staying neutral both de jure and de facto with respect to the American-led war on terrorism. His official stance runs counter to Washington's, which holds that the antiterrorism campaign brooks no neutrality. Niazov, however, cites Turkmenistan's... MORE

Turkmenistan's most senior official after President Saparmurat Niazov himself, Boris Shikhmuradov, announced on November 1 in Moscow that he is standing in opposition to Niazov. From 1991 until now, Shikhmuradov has enjoyed a unique political longevity in a country in which ministerial tenures last a... MORE