By Gillian McCormack The European Institute for the Media [EIM] is a nonprofit research organization that has conducted media monitoring during elections in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union for the last ten years. Its research shows a worrying pattern across the Commonwealth of... MORE

By Mikhail Kochkin On September 12 something quite extraordinary happened in the world of Russian big business: Sergei Kukura, vice president and chief financial officer of the giant oil company Lukoil, was kidnapped. This company, which together with Gazprom generates the lion's share of the... MORE

By Elena Chinyaeva Long a staunch proponent of the unification with Russia, Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka appears now to be its foremost opponent, thus entering into an awkward alliance with his own political opposition at home. Russia, on the other hand, has taken an initiative... MORE

By Taras Kuzio Ukraine is in the throes of a profound political crisis: A nascent party system is slowly emerging, but the parties embody several of the deep divisions that so scarred Ukrainian politics in its first and difficult decade of independence. Putting aside the... MORE

CAUGHT BETWEEN PRAGMATISM, RADICALISM AND... ANTIGLOBALISM?

By Peter Rutland A decade after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the consensus on the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus seems to be somewhat gloomy. Some fifty scholars and diplomats gathered at Yale University from September 19-21 to discuss "The Silk... MORE

By Mikhail Kochkin With Vladimir Putin's assumption of power, cadres of former and current Chekists [St. Petersburg intelligence service veterans] have been in great demand in state bodies at all levels, and in the senior management of the most profitable sectors of the Russian economy.... MORE

By Oleg Varfolomeyev Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's second and last term--a stint of good intentions and mediocre results--is coming to an end. Ironically, in the Western mind Kuchma's Ukraine stands for corruption and poverty--the two things he pledged to battle back in 1994, when he... MORE

By Zaal Anjaparidze The third and most important phase of the American program "Train and Equip," designed to prepare Georgian commando troops for antiterrorist operations, got underway on August 29. Fifty American military tutors will drill and equip about 500 Georgian commando troops for three... MORE

By Dale R. Herspring Despite opposition from the country's generals and admirals, Russian President Vladimir Putin is moving ahead to reform the military, albeit at a much slower and incremental pace than many, both in Russia and abroad, would prefer. He has already turned the... MORE