Ramzan Kadyrov, deputy prime minister and leader of the pro-Russian forces in Chechnya, likes to be the center of attention. He makes numerous public statements that tend to be quite extravagant. Last summer, for example, as the conflict in South Ossetia escalated, Kadyrov promised to... MORE

Kyrgyzstan's Acting President, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, joined other CIS leaders for an informal meeting in Moscow on the eve of the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Bakiyev raised a series of bilateral issues with Russia, including dual citizenship, Kyrgyzstan's... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the presidents of nine other CIS member countries attended an informal CIS summit on May 8 in Moscow, as part of Russia's anniversary celebrations of victory in the Second World War. Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Ilham Aliev of... MORE

On April 29, Azerbaijan became a member of the UN Human Rights Commission. Azerbaijan's representative to the United Nations, Yashar Aliev, described the vote as an "important step." The election was held following a meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council, to which the... MORE

The surprise arrest in Switzerland of Yevgeny Adamov, former head of the Russian Ministry on Nuclear Energy (MINATOM), has sent shock waves across Russia's vast bureaucracy. A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is investigating claims that Adamov pocketed some $9 million of U.S. government... MORE

Foreign investors are showing more interest in Ukraine since the Orange Revolution. Nevertheless, they remain cautious because of uncertainties surrounding the threat of re-privatization. Until this issue is resolved, something President Viktor Yushchenko supports but Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko opposes, Ukraine's positive international image will... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has failed to reconcile Red Army veterans with former fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. The Yushchenko government initially wanted all the veterans to march along Kyiv's... MORE

On May 5, officials in Tashkent announced that Uzbekistan would shortly withdraw from GUUAM, the augmented Georgia-Ukraine-Azerbaijan-Moldova (GUAM) alliance formed in 1997. Uzbekistan's foreign policy has always been a mixture of nationalism and pragmatism, and the latter ultimately caused Uzbekistan to opt out of GUUAM.... MORE