The G7 Summit ended today in the Bavarian Alps, and the heads of state of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US issued a proclamation of solidarity on sanctions again the Russian Federation and committed to keep them in place and have their duration be “clearly linked to Russia’s complete implementation of the…
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced that it will lend $1 billion to Kazakhstan in 2015. The $1 billion lent constitutes the largest amount the EBRD has ever allocated to Kazakhstan, something it attributes to a growing and diversifying economy. Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev in part based his campaign for reelection on the…
The Russian Presidency is allocating an enormous amount of “secret” funds for a military buildup, the largest since the end of the Cold War. The federal budget that is black, or authorized but not itemized, has doubled since 2010 to 3.2 trillion rubles (or $60 billion) according to estimates by a Bloomberg affiliate. Putin may…
Despite some encouraging signs related to Ukraine’s economy, the International Monetary Fund issued a statement yesterday saying that the Ukrainian economy has declined sharply as a result of the conflict, and that it may continue to do so should sporadic instances of fighting in eastern Ukraine continue. IMF Mission Chief Nikolay Gueorguiev has spoken in…
The ruble has slid to its lowest point in five weeks after the CBR suspended its foreign exchange auctions in order to keep the value from going too high. Specifically, the CR suspended the sale of its one-year foreign currency repurchase agreements, purposefully focusing any remaining investor attention on high-yield ruble-denominated assets. The CBR is…
The head of the International Monetary Fund is in Kiev to gauge the impact of the IMF’s $17.5 billion stimulus on the Ukrainian economy. Thus far, indications have been positive, according to Nikolay Gueorguiev, who has stated specifically that the project has been well implemented and that “stability is taking hold.” The second, $2.5 billion tranche…
In a move that adds further murkiness to an already confused situation, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have agreed to a demarcation of their maritime border in the Caspian Sea, despite the fact that previous conferences of the five Caspian littoral states (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Russia) established that borders had to be delineated and agreed…
In a speech last week, Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamanei publicly ruled out the possibility of IAEA inspections at Iranian military sights, and stated that Iranian nuclear scientists would similarly be unavailable to IAEA personnel. Since then, Iran has softened its position to allow for “managed access” to its facilities. However, these statements reportedly contrast with…
Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran in charge of its nuclear negotiations Abbas Araqchi said that it has agreed to the major concession of allowing UN inspectors to have managed access to military facilities as part of its nuclear deal with the P5+1 Powers. The UN team would apparently be allowed to take environmental samples from…
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law legislation granting the Russian government the authority to shut down NGOs that it deems “undesirable.” The new law extends mainly to foreign NGOs and affords the government the leeway to fine and restrict their activities if it views them as illicit or in violation of the new law.…
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