By Ariel Cohen (4/24/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: In his state-of-the-Federation address on April 18, Vladimir Putin made one thing perfectly clear: the Commonwealth of Independent States will remain the top priority of the Russian foreign policy. Putin’s speech contained altogether nine paragraphs dealing with foreign affairs, and seven of them were dedicated to the so-called “near abroad.” Putin put Russian interests in the context of Russian security, claiming that the problem of whether or not to support the anti-terrorist coalition “did not even exist” for Russia.

By Alima Bissenova (4/24/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: Political tensions in Kazakhstan have been escalating since last November when  reform-minded officials and prominent businessmen founded a new political movement, the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan. Several senior Kazakhstani government officials were subsequently fired including deputy Prime Minister Uraz Zhandosov and Labour Minister Alikhan Baymenov, as a result of their participation in Democratic Choice. Their sacking precipitated the current government crisis.

By Pavel Baev (4/24/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: The Pankisi Gorge is only a tiny blip on Pentagon’s global map of the counter-terrorist operation. The information about direct links between the Chechen resistance and the Taliban (and even bin Laden personally), eagerly supplied by Moscow, has never been particularly reliable. There is, however, sufficient evidence to assume that a few dozen Arab fighters have indeed taken part in the Chechen War, using Pankisi as one of the points of entry.