During his four-year reign the Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has behaved unpredictably both in domestic and international policy. Domestically, the president alienated most of his former supporters by gradually stripping them of power. Internationally, Bakiyev has maneuvered around the issue of the Manas airbase, where... MORE

U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Moscow which started a few hours ago as Air Force One landed in Vnukovo was awaited with such anxiety and generated so much commentary in the Russian media, as if it could miraculously bring the economic crisis to an... MORE

Meeting in Baku on June 29, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev witnessed the signing of an agreement on Azerbaijani gas deliveries to Russia. The initial volumes are small, but the agreement as such is a powerful reminder that the Western-backed... MORE

On Monday July 6, President Barack Obama is expected in Moscow for a summit to discuss nuclear arms control, Iran, Afghanistan the post-Soviet space and other issues. It has been announced that Obama will spend most of July 6 in formal as well as informal... MORE

On June 30 the OSCE officially terminated its Mission in Georgia, which had for 17 years monitored the situation in and around South Ossetia. Russia forced the OSCE to close the Mission by vetoing the prolongation of its mandate in the OSCE's Permanent Council. Also... MORE

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attended the informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers on the Greek island of Corfu on June 27-28. In addition to presenting Ankara's views on the future of the European security architecture, Davutoglu also discussed Turkey's bilateral relations on the sidelines... MORE

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

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

On June 25-26, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Brussels where he was presented an award for his contribution to peace. Reflecting on his efforts to revitalize Turkey's European Union membership project, Erdogan delivered a speech on the issue and met E.U officials. He was... MORE