On May 12, acting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov took part in negotiations with Uzbek Minister of Defense Kadyr Gulomov regarding the military-technical cooperation taking place between their two countries. The defense ministers also discussed regional security issues on which Uzbekistan and Russia cooperate on... MORE

As the international community finds itself in a state of flux with the unprecedented global war on terror and the deepening crisis in Iraq, leading Moscow strategists are trying to define Russia's relations with the West, and in particular with the United States. At two... MORE

American and Japanese reports state that Russia is expected to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) against proliferation at sea and in the air. Russia's Foreign and Defense Ministries have also expressed a positive attitude toward this initiative. This move would, among other things, strike... MORE

On May 12, the Ukrainian parliament passed a resolution that recommended President Leonid Kuchma dismiss the governor of Trans-Carpathia oblast and provide a critique of "destabilizing activities" engaged in by members of the presidential administration. The non-binding resolution received 238 votes, winning the support of... MORE

The Tajik newspaper Tojikiston Weekly has cast doubt on Tajikistan's ability to protect its border with Afghanistan on its own. An editorial published in the paper on April 29 claimed that the withdrawal of Russian troops from Tajikistan was not in the latter's interest, as... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly flew to Chechnya on the morning of May 11, announcing the visit only during a Cabinet meeting he chaired after returning to Moscow later in the day. While in Grozny, Putin presented the gold star-shaped Hero of Russia medal to... MORE

In the first week of May two human rights organizations, the Paris-based Reporters Without Frontiers and the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass Information, released reports on the state of media freedom in the world and in the CIS and Ukraine respectively. The picture both organizations provide... MORE

The vaunted "Mountain Storm" U.S. spring offensive on the Afghan border with Pakistan and the supporting Pakistani action against tribes believed to be harboring Al-Qaeda on its side of the border in Waziristan has petered out. From "a hammer and anvil" strategy that would have... MORE

According to the headline of an article that appeared on May 6 in the Uzbek newspaper Narodnoe slovo ("People's Word"), "Uzbekistan considers Russia one of its most important economic partners." The publication of an article with such a title in a newspaper that has among... MORE

The murder of Akhmad Kadyrov, a former mufti turned politician handpicked by the Kremlin to lead the pro-Moscow administration in Chechnya (see yesterday's EDM), dealt a severe blow to the assertions of the Putin government that it had reestablished full control over the rebellious region.... MORE