On June 14, after the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Moscow formally created its new Collective Operational Reaction Forces (CORF), Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed this achievement as a "step toward creating a military force to be reckoned with, truly capable of responding... MORE

On June 15, the Dagestani branch of Rossvyazkomnadzor, the Russian state agency that oversees the media, filed a lawsuit to shut down the Makhachkala-based independent weekly Chernovik because of its alleged support for extremist views, and on June 18 the paper had its first court... MORE

Chinese demand is voracious for Turkmen gas. Russia's import stoppage (see above article) can only strengthen Turkmenistan's motivation to start exports to China on schedule in early 2010. With Russia demonstrating its unreliability as a gas importer (let alone supplier to others), Beijing is using... MORE

Russia's suspension of gas deliveries via Ukraine to Europe last January was a hard lesson (not the first of this type) to consumer countries. Moscow's prolonged and continuing stoppage of gas purchases from Turkmenistan (also not for the first time) is an even harder lesson... MORE

Russian energy super-giant Gazprom has taken severe blows in the still-deepening recession, and the worst setbacks have happened in its most profitable market - the European Union. Various assessments show that the volume of its export to Europe shrunk by 35-40 percent in the first... MORE

Russia's Lukoil has broken into Western Europe's most lucrative oil refining and retail market by taking over Dow Chemicals' 45 percent stake in Total Raffinaderij Nederland (TRN), a choice morsel. The announcement coincided with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's June 19-20 visit to the Netherlands.Seen in... MORE

In a nationally televised address on June 17, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov came down hard on Chechnya's law enforcement agencies for the inadequate results they showed in capturing the rebels (www.rusnovosti.ru, June 17). The Chechen president gave his top brass only two weeks to wipe... MORE

According to Kavkazsky Uzel, the number of terrorist acts, murders of law enforcement personnel and kidnappings has grown significantly in Chechnya since April 16, the day the federal authorities formally announced an end to the decade-long counter-terrorist operation in the republic. The website came to... MORE

The internecine squabbling between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has left investors puzzled and the U.S. dollar affected. On June 13, Kudrin said at a meeting of the G-8 Finance Ministers in Italy that the global financial system as well... MORE

On June 23, the Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced that his government had reached a new agreement with the U.S. government on the status of Manas airbase in Bishkek. According to the president's statement, the U.S. will pay $60 million for renting space at Manas... MORE