(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, May 16, 2013) In thinking about Russia’s future, most of the country’s opposition figures remain trapped in the old debate about whether Russia is fundamentally European or really Asiatic, but, one Moscow commentator argues, it is time to recognize that “the successful Russia of the future” can and must be a country like the United States. In an article on the “Osobaya
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 29, 2013) The two brothers who carried out the horrific Boston bombing are not simply Muslims who were inspired by radical websites or Chechens who were continuing their struggle against Moscow by other means, as many in both Russia and the West have insisted, according to a Moscow analyst. Instead, Konstantin Kazenin argues, they represent “an example of a Caucasus family
(opendemocacy.net – Susan Richards – April 23, 2013) Susan Richards is a non-executive director and founder of openDemocracy. She has produced a number of feature films and written a prize-winning book, Epics of Everyday Life, about the lives of ordinary Russians in the transition from communism. Lost & Found in Russia, Encounters in the Deep Heartland, which covers the period 1992-2008, was published by IB Tauris in May 2009. Dzhokar
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 19, 2013) Two ethnic Chechens, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are suspected of having perpetrated the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15 that killed three people and injured 170 others. As information accumulated — and confusion swirled — about them, RFE/RL Central Newsroom Director Jeremy Bransten sat down with Aslan Doukaev, director of RFE/RL’s North Caucasus Service, for some insight into those two brothers and their
(Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10 - jamestown.org/programs/edm/ – Georgiy Voloshin – March 18, 2013) Following his recent visit to Brussels, the secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Nikolai Bordyuzha, told the Russian press that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had been ignoring all attempts to establish a permanent dialogue on security issues common to both organizations. According to Bordyuzha, who has been
(opendemocracy.net – Michael Cecire – February 25, 2013) Michael Hikari Cecire is a Black Sea-Eurasia regional analyst and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, where he contributes to the Project on Democratic Transitions. China’s steadily growing economic expansion throughout the world is a cause of concern for many governments. Eastern Europe and Central Eurasia are no longer so dependent on Moscow and China is quietly rolling out
MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has no plans to end US cargo traffic to Afghanistan via its territory despite differences in relations between the two states, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Tuesday. “Cargo transit [to Afghanistan] via Russian territory is an important aspect of our cooperation, and we have no plans to end it,” Gatilov said. Russia is interested in Afghanistan’s future stability, especially after
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Interfax – interfax.ru – February 14, 2013) After the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from Afghanistan, this country could become a source of a terrorist threat for Russia and the countries of the region, Army Gen. Anatoly Kulikov, the president of the Club of Commanders, told Interfax-AVN on Thursday. “The Islamists’ principal forces have been occupied
(February 12, 2013 – Interfax) The terrorist activity level on the space around CIS member states is the highest in Afghanistan, CIS Anti-Terrorist Center Head Andrei Novikov said at the sixth meeting of center senior officials. “Afghanistan, a country bordering on CIS member countries, has the highest level of terrorist activity,” he said. The decision to pull out NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014 has created a new strategic situation
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Bratersky – February 11, 2013) Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, said Friday that they had agreed to end their dispute over the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia rents from the Central Asian nation. Putin, who received Nazarbayev in the Kremlin, said that amid increasing cooperation between the two countries, there are “a lot of issues” that need to be discussed,
(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 23 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Pavel Felgenhauer – February 7, 2013) According to Russian diplomatic sources, during a meeting last weekend in Munich on the sidelines of the annual international security conference, United States Vice President Joseph Biden assured Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Washington wants to put bilateral relations “back on track” after a period of growing strain and public
ASTANA, January 18 (RIA Novosti) – Former Soviet states’ involvement in Eurasian integration does not herald a return to the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Friday. “We will continue to strive toward our common goal, and I want to stress once again that Eurasian integration, which is proceeding under my personal initiative, has never been, and never will be, a reincarnation of any political union, and particularly
(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 8 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Georgiy Voloshin – January 16, 2013) The year 2012 was certainly rich in events for Kazakhstan. In mid-January, the early parliamentary elections brought two more parties to the country’s legislative body, although none of them gained enough seats to break Nur Otan’s monopoly. While the diversity of opinions within the country’s parliament became undoubtedly widerwith the Kazakhstani
(Vestnik Kavkaza – January 10, 2013 – http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/35648.html) Interview by Maria Sidelnikova. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza The head of the Socio-Political Studies Center, Vladimir Yevseyev, told Vestnik Kavkaza about prospects of development of the situation in Central Asia. - If anything scary happens in Central Asia, should Russia expect a new wave of migrants? - I don’t think we should exaggerate the problem of migration, because all developed countries have
[Dialogue with the Taliban unavoidable: New approaches are needed to regulate Afghanistan post-2014 - Russia Beyond the Headlines/VPK Daily - Anatoly Kulikov - Anatoly Kulikov is an army general and chairman of the Military Chiefs Club of the Russian Federation. - Dec. 10, 2012 - http://rbth.ru/articles/2012/12/10/dialogue_with_the_taliban_unavoidable_20987.html] Russia Behind the Headlines features commentary by Gen. Anatoly Kulikov discussing the situation on the ground in Afghanistan: Following the withdrawal of U.S. troops
[Kazakhstan seeking to withdraw the Baikonur cosmodrome from Russian jurisdiction - ITAR-TASS - RUSSIAN PRESS REVIEW - Dec. 11, 2012 - http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c142/596443.html] Itar-Tass covers plans by Kazakhstan to end its lease to Russia of the the Baikonur space port: The legendary Baikonur complex which Moscow is operating on lease from Kazakhstan, may be withdrawn from Russian jurisdiction. The resounding statement was made by head of Kazakhstan’s national aerospace agency /Kazkosmos/
MOSCOW, December 7 (RIA Novosti) Russian NATO envoy Alexander Grushko refuted on Friday claims by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Russia is aiming to “re-Sovietize” Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “Sovietization is a cliché which, in my opinion, is absolutely incongruous with the actual processes that are taking place throughout the former USSR,” Grushko said during a teleconference broadcast by RIA Novosti. His comments come a day
Paul Rogers – www.opendemocracy.net – October 4, 2012 Paul Rogers is professor in the department of peace studies at Bradford University, northern England. He is openDemocracy’s international-security editor, and has been writing a weekly column on global security since 28 September 2001; he also writes a monthly briefing for the Oxford Research Group. His books include Why We’re Losing the War on Terror (Polity, 2007), and Losing Control: Global Security
PAVLODAR. Sept 19 (Interfax) – Innovations will help make transportation systems more reliable and effective, said Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The introduction of innovations will help significantly enhance the reliability and effectiveness of transportation systems, first of all under the project to build a transportation corridor between Europe and Western China. It will run from St. Petersburg to the border with China across Kazan, Orenburg, Aktyubinsk and Almaty,” he told
RUSSIAN AVIATION WILL BRING NATO’S NON-LETHAL CONSIGNMENTS OUT OF AFGHANISTAN - Izvestia – August 30, 2012 - Aleksei Mikhailov [no direct link available to English translation of article] Izvestia reports that Russian pilots from the the Russian 224th Flight Group will help bring non-lethal NATO consignments out of Afghanistan. Included will be the property of 50 countries participating in the international operation in Afghanistan, both NATO and non-NATO. The latter
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