The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan failed to reach any tangible agreements during their latest negotiations, all but dashing renewed international hopes for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict. The conflicting parties blame each other for the failure of the summit hosted by Russian President... MORE

Moscow has indicated its interest in increasing trade with China but a major bilateral gas deal remained elusive. During talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in Moscow on June 16, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed what he described as the positive development of bilateral... MORE

As a highlight of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (see EDM, June 20), Russian President Dmitry Medvedev witnessed the signing of the contract for two French Mistral-class warships to be delivered to Russia. Negotiations continue for two more ships of the same class, to... MORE

The Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Kazan on June 24 was intended to be an event of greater significance than any of the long series of trilateral meetings that had much elaborated the “agreeing-to-disagree” agenda. A leak from the Kremlin indicated that the two Caucasian states that... MORE

Almost completely overshadowed by the death of Osama bin Laden, jihadi publishing house Sawt al-Islam released a bilingual video from the Turkistan Islamic Party in mid-May. [1] The video recounted various historic grievances held by western China’s Muslim Uyghur people against Chinese communist rule while... MORE

Since the April 7, 2010 regime change in Kyrgyzstan, experts have debated whether the country is leaning more toward Russia or the United States. President Roza Otunbayeva has met with both the Russian and US presidents, participated in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in... MORE

China’s President, Hu Jintao, signed important political and trade documents during his June 18 – 20 visit to Ukraine, winding up his CIS tour in which he also visited Kazakhstan and Russia. While Beijing is interested mainly in military-technical cooperation, Kyiv views China as primarily... MORE

Efforts to re-launch negotiations on Transnistria conflict-settlement, after a five-year breakdown, in the 5+2 format (Russia, Ukraine, OSCE, the United States, European Union, Chisinau, Tiraspol) collapsed on June 21 in Moscow. The meeting’s failure was almost preordained (see EDM, June 21). Russia and the OSCE... MORE

Negotiators are meeting in Moscow today (June 21) to re-launch the 5+2 format (Russia, Ukraine, OSCE, the United States, European Union, Chisinau, Tiraspol) for Transnistria conflict-settlement, after a five-year breakdown in the official negotiations. This meeting is expected to decide the resumption of official negotiations... MORE

The ongoing political paralysis in Nepal—caused by the small Himalayan nation's inability to draft a Constitution—coupled with the rise of Maoists as a major political force in Nepal’s mainstream politics have created the ideal conditions for Beijing to increase its leverage and influence over Nepal.... MORE