Briefing the press on June 16 in Moscow, Gazprom deputy chairman Aleksandr Ananenkov lifted a curtain corner on the company's investment and output prospects in the short-to-medium term (Interfax, June 17). Gazprom is set to substantially reduce capital expenditures in the next few years, starting... MORE

In his address to the Collective Security Treaty Organization's (CSTO) summit in Moscow on June 14, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev assured his counterparts, above all the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, that his country unreservedly supports all projects aimed at strengthening this organization. Indeed, Kazakhstan, surrounded... MORE

The top Russian military commander, the Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister Army-General Nikolai Makarov during the Paris air show this week said: "Georgia is saber-rattling and preparing weapons to resolve its territorial problems by any means." Makarov accused NATO of... MORE

In his speech to the World Grain Forum in St. Petersburg on June 6, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged that the country will double its grain production by bringing back into use some 20 million hectares of farmland that "has not been ploughed since the... MORE

On June 16 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saw himself compelled to order the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) to cease operations immediately, after 16 years of existence (Secretary-General's office press release, June 16). That same day (late on July 15 New York time)... MORE

On June 12 hundreds of protesters in the Elbrus district of Kabardino-Balkaria blocked the highway that connects this mountainous resort region with the republic's lowlands. The protestors were current and former tourist industry employees demanding shares in a tourist company, a just distribution of land... MORE

The failings of the Russian military modernization program are providing an additional source of discontent among the opponents of reform and within the government. On June 1, during a government session Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly criticized Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, the Chief of... MORE

Russia's national day had all the necessary flags in the streets and a reception in the Kremlin, but few Russians see the point in celebrating the "Declaration on State Sovereignty" approved by the Congress of People's Deputies on June 12, 1990. That act delivered a... MORE

The ongoing battle over the construction of the Russian-German Nord Stream gas pipeline is reaching a critical stage. In June the German ministry of defense once again voiced its opposition to the proposed route of the pipeline, and presented their arguments to the German parliament's... MORE

Belarus refused to attend the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Moscow on June 14. The summit made decisions to enlarge the size of collective rapid deployment forces, the scope of their missions, and the legal basis of their operations.President Alyaksandr Lukashenka cancelled the... MORE