In the run-up to the NATO summit in Istanbul (June 28-29), Russian President Vladimir Putin is signalling that he might honor the event with his presence "[if] the conditions will be right" (NATO press release, May 17). Putin's conditions apparently include NATO acceptance of Russia's... MORE

If there is any idea today that is uniting all of the different people fond of calling themselves the Russian political "elite," it is the idea of "dominating in the post-Soviet space," which implies in one way or another the resurrection of the Russian-Soviet Empire.... MORE

On May 19, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev addressed the State Duma in closed hearings concerning the situation in Chechnya and the investigation of the May 9 assassination of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed President Akhmad Kadyrov. According to one account, Nurgaliev told legislators that the situation in Chechnya... MORE

The Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. (KPO) announced on May 20 that it has begun delivering oil to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's (CPC) main export pipeline. The pipeline mostly serves the large Tengiz onshore oil field, operated by ChevronTexaco. The KPO consortium includes British Gas and... MORE

On May 19, Oleksandr Todiychuk resigned as president of Ukraine's national oil transit company UkrTransNafta. Todiychuk's resignation follows a decision by President Leonid Kuchma to abolish the office of plenipotentiary for the Eurasian Oil Transport Corridor (EAOTC), which Todiychuk held concurrently with the UkrTransNafta post.... MORE

The arrest of a 33-year old member of Georgia's Parliament on May 19 has seriously damaged the Saakashvili government's reputation. MP Giorgi Kenchadze, an activist in the National-Democrats ruling party, has been charged with influence peddling by extorting some US$100,000 from Ajarian businessmen.According to an... MORE

During a press conference organized in Khojand, Sogdy District Prosecutor Nabidzhon Rahimov revealed that 33 criminal cases have been launched against individuals suspected of participating in the activities of outlawed religious party Hizb ut-Tahrir in the Sogdy district of in the north of Tajikistan. According... MORE

The Kazakh parliament's May 13 decision to postpone the request for extending the deployment of the country's peacekeeping battalion (KAZBAT) in Iraq highlights the question over the future deployment of Kazakh forces in Iraq. Of the CIS countries, only Ukraine with its 1,800 troops in... MORE

Yesterday, the Ukrainian parliament (Rada) debated the issue of a continued Ukrainian military contingent in Iraq, the fourth largest in the 33-member U.S.-led Coalition. Reports were heard by Minister of Defense Yevhen Marchuk, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Yelchenko, First Deputy Chairman of... MORE

Most observers look at the strong economy and President Putin's high popularity rating, and assume that Russia has become a "normal" society, in the words of a recent Foreign Affairs article. But a nationwide survey on "Rich and poor in Russia" by the Institute for... MORE