As Russian forces on the border with Ukraine are ordered back, regional leaders have reflected on the implications for Russian intervention in their own countries. As reported earlier, Kazakhstan’s tepid support coupled with Kyrgzystan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan’s reticence on the issue have raised a real point of tension between Russia and the FSU republics. President…

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) released a statement this morning on the impact of Ukraine’s crisis on economies of Ukraine, Russia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. EBRD economists forecasted that Ukraine will predictably slump into a deep recession and sanctions for Russia will serve to accelerate its own economic stagnation. However, projections…

Last week, the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) met informally to bolster diplomatic solidarity in the face of increasing isolation from the West over its role in the Ukraine crisis. However, the meeting lacked several key members – among them, Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan. The only attending members were Armenia, Bealrus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.…

Voters in eastern Ukraine took part in the hastily organized referendums, organized to grant legitimacy to the separatist militias that have taken over cities like Donetsk and Luhansk. The militias have been apparently fueled by hope for re-absorption into the Russian Federation, similar to Crimea. Roman Lyagin, election chief of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic,…

The government of Azerbaijan sentenced eight opposition activists to 6-8 years in prison for protesting the death of Jeyhun Gubadov at a barracks in January. A conscript of the Azerbaijani military, he officially died from a heart attack but photos shared with the press indicate otherwise. The ruling party of Azerbaijan, “Yeni Azerbaijan” (YAP) endured…

Kazakhstan announced a deal with the Asian Development Bank on Sunday during the 47th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Development Bank in Astana to infuse cash and expertise into the country’s economy to develop the economy beyond its large oil and gas sector, which comprises roughly 80% of its total exports…

A new Turkmen opposition party, “Hereket” (the “Movement”) has appeared, reports RFE/RL. This is a strange development within a dictatorship that has a notoriously low tolerance for dissent. Turkmen opposition leaders, prominent in the transitional period of the 1990’s have fled to Europe, where they maintain comparatively small amount of influence and international attention. The…

Pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine stormed government buildings in Luhansk, the provincial capital of Ukraine’s eastern region. Loyalties appear to have splintered, with local police waiting it out and not participating in the fighting, and the regional leadership and their state police still resisting the growing power of the pro-Russian militias. Among the locations seized…

Iran and Russia have been consistently dialoguing about potential deals for $10 billion worth of electricity, in addition to another set of deals to exchange food and other products for Iranian oil. Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak met in Tehran on Sunday to discuss the deal, which included construction…

Russia and India have made tentative arrangements to construct a $30 billion oil pipeline through China’s Xinjiang province south to India. The pipeline is set to be the most expensive yet constructed, and the groundwork for the agreement was laid last October when Manmohan Singh visited Moscow during the 14th annual India-Russia summit. The agreement…