On May 12, the $1.17 billion CASA-1000 energy mega-project was inaugurated, in Tajikistan, by top-level officials from its participating countries—Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan (News.tj, May 12). Although CASA-1000 has secured financing from the United States, the United Kingdom, the World Bank and the European... MORE

The periodic escalation of violence in and around the separatist Azerbaijani territory of Karabakh routinely raises concerns about this conflict’s threat to regional energy security and pipeline infrastructure. However, few commentaries analyze this issue’s broader geopolitical implications in any detail. The intense fighting between the... MORE

At the start of May, an unusual trial concluded in Dagestan. Regional authorities charged the republic’s former deputy prime minister, Magomedgusen Nasrutdinov, with fraud and sentenced him to five years in prison and a hefty fine. Investigators said he had unlawfully privatized one million meters... MORE

Russian talks with Gulf states, in Doha, Qatar, aimed at freezing oil production and thereby raising prices, broke down on April 17 (RT, April 17). This failure to reach an agreement represents a major setback for Russia’s economy as well as its domestic and foreign... MORE

On April 13, the energy ministers of Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Iran met in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, where they agreed to create a single, common electricity market among these countries. For this purpose, bilateral Russia-Georgia, Armenia-Georgia, and Armenia-Iran projects are being planned to... MORE

Since 2007, two of Moscow’s priority foreign policy initiatives have been its pivot to Asia and efforts to secure recognition of its Arctic claims while opening the Russian High North up to large-scale development. In both cases—in the Arctic or the Russian Far East—Moscow can... MORE

In January 2016, the Russian media reported that Russia’s gas giant, Gazprom, had discontinued all purchases of natural gas from Turkmenistan and was not planning to resume imports any time soon. This information was later confirmed in a company statement released in mid-March, containing some... MORE

When Moscow abruptly terminated the South Stream natural gas pipeline project in December 2014 (see EDM, December 17, 2014), that decision left all of Russia’s potential partners in the Balkans in the lurch. They had all made commitments to Russia and South Stream and, in... MORE

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has repeatedly reshuffled his government over the last several weeks. At a meeting of the State Security Council, in early March, he relieved from their positions the head of the security services, Lieutenant General Guychgeldy Hodzhaberdyev, and the long-serving commander... MORE

Many analysts say the two wars in Chechnya in the 1990s were caused by the republic’s oil. These analysts, however, have tended to overlook the fact that Chechnya no longer had prospects as an oil extracting region by the time the wars started. Chechnya’s oil... MORE