By empty (6/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev attended a ceremony on 2 June at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to mark that facility\'s 50th anniversary. In remarks at the ceremony, Putin thanked Nazarbaev for \"a principled, far-sighted policy\" that will permit Russia to lease the launch facility until 2050. The two also laid the cornerstone for the planned Baiterek space center, \"Kazakhstan Today\" reported.

By empty (6/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

A number of Bishkek businessmen engaged in trade, whose businesses sustained damages during violence and looting in the city early on March 25, staged a picket near the Kyrgyz government building on Thursday. About 70 protesters demanded that the government address the extension of loans granted to their businesses by commercial banks, the deferment of tax and customs duty payments, and the restoration of their licenses that were stolen or destroyed on March 25. \"Leaseholders at Bishkek\'s major shopping centers suffered damages varying from $5,000 to $100,000,\" picket activists told Interfax.

By empty (6/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Uzbek authorities object to the establishment of an international commission to investigate the recent events in Andizhan. \"Uzbekistan thinks that appeals for forming an international commission to investigate the Andizhan events are unfounded,\" says an Uzbek Foreign Ministry statement released in Tashkent on Thursday. A number of international organizations, including the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, have called for the international participation in the Andizhan investigation.