Putin (in file photo) called the USSR's breakup the "biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the century" In his state-of-the-nation address on 25 April, Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised the West by calling the Soviet Union's collapse the "biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the century." His declaration, however, has caused little stir at home. Political analysts view the Russian president's comments as simply an attempt to lift his declining popularity rating among the elderly.
While press freedom made important gains in some countries in 2004, increased restrictions were detected in parts of Asia and the former Soviet Union. That's the crux of an annual report is issued on Thursday by Freedom House, a prominent U.S. non-governmental organization. RFE/RL takes a look at the report ahead of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.
The OSCE -- Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe -- has come under sharp criticism from Russia on the criteria it uses and conclusions it reaches in monitoring elections. Russia charges that the process is politically weighted. Leaders of the organization have just completed a two-day review in Vienna. Debate was lively but few minds appear to have been changed about the way the OSCE decides whether elections are fair and democratic.
20 April 2005 -- Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov today told the visiting chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Dimitrij Rupel, that he will not run in Turkmenistan's 2009 presidential elections.
Neighboring states don't want to see a repeat of Kyrgyzstan's protests in their own countries In the wake of last month's popular revolt in Kyrgyzstan, neighboring governments are taking measures to prevent the same thing from happening in their own countries. The abrupt ouster of Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev resonated throughout the region -- and no doubt raised anxiety among his fellow heads of state, all of whom have been in power since the early 1990s. Kyrgyzstan's neighbors have been quick to pass new laws in order to avert their own homegrown revolutions.
18 April 2005 (RFE/RL) -- A number of unpublished agreements purportedly signed between the governments of Ukraine and Turkmenistan for the purchase of natural gas have inflamed the conflict between Kyiv and Moscow over natural-gas deliveries from Turkmenistan.
UNICEF says in a new report that while more girls worldwide are going to school, the gender gap in many regions still remains wide. The report was officially released today in Geneva by UNICEF's executive director Carol Bellamy.
15 April 2005 -- Turkmenistan resumed natural-gas supplies to Russia today, ending a three-month gas price dispute.
Expectations are high in Kyrgyzstan for achieving swift and comprehensive reforms. By Christopher Walker
April 14 (NCA) -- A proposed trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to Pakistan has been given the go-ahead by the Asian Development Bank, which declared that the project is feasible.
12 April 2005 -- Iran and Turkmenistan have inaugurated the Dostluk dam, a dam on a river that forms part of their border.
Will Ukraine's Orange Revolution have an effect in Central Asia's most closed regimes? Young people in Uzbekistan watched closely as events unfolded in Kyrgyzstan that led to the ouster of long-time President Askar Akaev. The repressive regime in Tashkent leaves Uzbek youth with few options for similar political expression. In Turkmenistan, the most tightly controlled of the Central Asian nations, young people have virtually no options at all -- except to rely on movements run by Turkmen youth abroad. For more on the rise of political youth groups, see RFE/RL's special website "The Power of Youth." --> /specials/youth/
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