The two wars in Chechnya and related political and economic instability were the primary reasons for the massive exodus of both Russian and non-ethnic Russians from the North Caucasus. Even though the flight of ethnic Russians from the region has been extensively explored in scientific... MORE

On November 7, the European parliament in Brussels observed Circassian Day. The event focused on Circassian diaspora organizations, their problems and expectations in relation to the European parliament. In attendance were diaspora groups from European countries, but also substantial Circassian delegations from the United States... MORE

As relations between Dushanbe and Tashkent have become increasingly strained due to multiple factors, including water resources and energy supplies, Tajikistan is trying to end its reliance on Uzbekistan’s highways and railroads. Tashkent has closed most of the Soviet-era highways linking the countries, and Tajikistan’s... MORE

Kazakhstan has been ranked among the top 50 world economies in the Doing Business 2012 report, compiled by the World Bank and its private-sector lender the International Finance Corp (i-news.kz, October 20). The ranking places Kazakhstan 47th among 183 countries in a study assessing business... MORE

Former President Viktor Yushchenko is an important, but underestimated, aspect of the sentencing of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years imprisonment and a three year ban from government work. Our Ukraine Honorary Chairman Yushchenko’s support for the sentence was in contradiction with the Our... MORE

Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose confirmed $5.5 billion worth of assets outside Georgia is equal to one half of Georgia’s annual GDP, expatiated on his political plans at his first-ever news conference on November 1. The session followed up Ivanishvili’s October 7 and October 12 program documents,... MORE

On November 4, the so-called Russian Marches took place in cities across Russia. The biggest rally took place in Moscow, where an estimated 14,000 people participated. For the first time at the annual rally, Russian nationalists appeared alongside popular Russian democrats. The well-known Russian pro-democracy... MORE

President Dmitry Medvedev started his final round of top level meetings with the trip to Cannes where the leaders of the twenty largest world economic powers gathered to discuss measures to rescue the global financial system from the Greek crisis. The scale of the unfolding... MORE

Western policymakers and Ukrainian experts are perplexed as to why President Viktor Yanukovych agreed to the court quickly sentencing Yulia Tymoshenko on October 11 to a seven year sentence, a three year ban from political life and a fine of 1.5 billion hryvnia ($190 million).... MORE

Dagestan’s Interior Ministry reported today (November 4) that two residents of Dagestan’s Tlyaratinsky district had been arrested for illegal possession of weapons. Hundreds of rounds of ammunition and explosives were seized from a 49-year-old resident of the village of Tlyarat, while ammunition and a sniper’s... MORE