On June 3 the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) defense ministers met to consider intensifying military cooperation and formalizing the new rapid reaction forces. They are currently finalizing preparations to hold a CSTO military exercise in Belarus to "test" the new formation. Leanid Maltsaw, the... MORE

In response to reports appearing in the British media, the Syrian embassy in London released a statement on May 10 regarding two British nationals who were arrested in Damascus on March 17, Maryam Kallis and Yasser Zahur Ahmed. According to the statement, “interrogations indicated that... MORE

Ukraine might shortly become a parliamentary republic if a constitutional reform plan is agreed. This is a joint plan by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the Party of Regions (PRU) which has been the largest opposition force. The plan is... MORE

Russia's relationship with its former closest ally, Belarus, has reached a new low point following a bitter dispute. Moscow has apparently struggled to remain on good terms with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenka -described by some as Europe's last dictator. Meanwhile, although both countries have attempted... MORE

In what is becoming a monthly ritual, the Russian leadership has publicly stated that they fear Ukraine will be unable to pay its upcoming bill for Russian gas delivered in May. On May 27 Gazprom's spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov stated "Naftogaz is finding it enormously difficult... MORE

On May 29 Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenka instructed his ministers not to "whine and weep" when things did not work out with Russia but to "look for better luck in other parts of the world" (www.gazeta.ru, May 29). He was obviously disappointed after the meeting... MORE

The resignation of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's chief of staff Viktor Baloga has long been expected (www.pravda.com.ua, May 16, 18). He issued a strongly worded attack on Yushchenko as having failed to implement his 2004 election promises, and therefore had no right to stand... MORE

Despite facing gas production shortfalls (relative to internal and external supply commitments) post-2010, Russia is multiplying its supply offers to European consumer countries through South Stream and other pipeline projects. Gazprom signed bilateral agreements on building South Stream with state-controlled Italian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian... MORE

On a December morning in 1973, an ear-splitting blast ripped through the fashionable Salamanca district of Madrid, shaking the walls of this reporter’s home. The first frenzied reports on the Spanish state-controlled media spoke of a gas main explosion.  A journalist’s instinct said this was... MORE