On October 11, the United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, won more than 7,000 local elections in 75 of its 83 regions. President Dmitry Medvedev hailed United Russia’s victory as showing that the party had a “legal and moral right” to run... MORE

Agiri Rojhilat is one of the top seven members of the Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistane (PJAK) which is a part of the larger umbrella organization Koma Civaken Kurdistan (KCK) that includes the PKK. The Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan portrays itself to... MORE

On October 13, Ingushetia.org reported that the President of Ingushetia Yunus-bek Yevkurov, had called on the Ingush clans, known as teips, to form a teip council. Citing the importance of the teips for Ingush society, President Yevkurov decided to recruit them to improve the security... MORE

The resignation of the Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov on October 19 and, consequently the entire government should not be confused with any attempt to reform the country’s political system. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has indeed promised to change the way Kyrgyzstan’s government functions in order... MORE

A synopsis of the latest opinion poll (September 2009) conducted in Belarus by the Independent Institute of Social-Economic and Political Research has been published on the Institute’s website (www.iiseps.org). The Charter 97 website issued a press release, which maintained that given a choice, Belarusians would... MORE

On October 9 the Ukrainian parliament appointed the candy and automobile tycoon Petro Poroshenko as the foreign minister. His nomination, submitted by President Viktor Yushchenko, was backed by 240 deputies in the 450-seat body. All caucuses voted in his favor except the opposition Party of... MORE

Police in Dagestan killed three suspected militants on October 18 in ongoing violence in the republic. The latest incident follows a rise in tensions surrounding the municipal elections held in Russia on October 11, which were particularly controversial in the Dagestani city of Derbent, where... MORE

Since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government first revealed its Kurdish initiative in cooperation with the other state institutions, including the military and the National Intelligence Service (MIT), many doubted whether it would prove successful. While the opposition parties were arguing against the Kurdish... MORE

President Dmitry Medvedev made a surprisingly strong claim for leadership five weeks ago in his article “Go, Russia!” arguing that the country could only overcome the devastating recession by breaking the pattern of “endemic corruption.” The article is still lively debated; the key point of... MORE