Turkmenistan's president has ordered the removal of a prominent statue of former dictator Saparmurat Niyazov, in a move to assert his own authority and chip away at the personality cult of his predecessor.
Turkmen state media today say President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov has replaced the country's top oil and gas official.
The EU's energy commissioner-elect, Guenther Oettinger, has said the EU must reduce its dependence on natural-gas deliveries from Russia without jeopardizing its long-term partnership with the country.
An energy summit that promised to jump-start export projects circumventing Russia appears to have lost considerable momentum after first the Ukrainian president, and then all the other participating heads of state, pulled out of the meeting.
The U.S.-based human rights watchdog Freedom House says 2009 saw more setbacks than improvements, with 40 countries and territories covered in its latest survey experiencing declines in democratic freedoms, including most of the post-Soviet area.
Turkmenistan has introduced new regulations for the distribution of free gasoline to Turkmen citizens, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reports.
Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is in Turkmenistan to open a new pipeline to bring Turkmen gas to Iran. For Turkmenistan, the important symbolism is to show its growing independence from Moscow in gas exports, while for Iran, the benefit goes beyond the additional gas.
As EU president for the first six months of 2010, Spain will focus on strengthening relations with Central Asia, one analyst believes.
Turkmenistan has signed agreements with a number of Asian companies to develop the South Yolotan natural-gas field, the largest in Turkmenistan, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reports.
The Watan movie theater has reopened in downtown Ashgabat. The previous government's isolationist policy had left Turkmen movies out of foreign film festivals.
Ashgabat and Moscow have agreed to renew Turkmen gas supplies to Russia by early January, ending a nine-month dispute between the two ex-Soviet states.
Russia is marking the 130th anniversary of the birth of Soviet leader Josef Stalin with medals and marches in his honor, as well as an exhibition that shows his crude and vindictive side. But even as many Russians continue to revere Stalin as a strong leader, others remember his cruel legacy as the man responsible for millions of deaths during his nearly 30-year rule.
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