News Digest
ACTING KYRGYZ FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS KAZAKHSTAN
By empty (4/28/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Acting Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Roza Otunbaeva met with Kazakh Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev and Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov in Astana on 28 April for talks focusing on bilateral relations, RFE/RL\'s Kazakh Service and Kazakh Service reported. Toqaev said that his discussion with Otunbaeva revealed \"no differences of opinion,\" \"Kazakhstan Today\" reported. \"We think that Kazakhstan\'s dynamic economic growth will be a stabilizing factor [in the region],\" RFE/RL\'s Kazakh Service quoted Otunbaeva as saying.KAZAKH COURT ORDERS ARREST OF OPPOSITION FIGURE
By empty (4/28/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A court in Almaty called on 28 April for the arrest of former Emergency Situations Agency head Zamanbek Nurkadilov. Nurkadilov, a onetime supporter of President Nursultan Nazarbaev who joined the opposition in 2004, faces defamation over his charges that unnamed officials were complicit in the 2004 death of journalist Askhat Sharipzhanov. The court, which has not yet ruled on the substance of the case, had ordered on 20 April that Nurkadilov be brought to court by force after he refused to appear, although he entered a \"not guilty\" plea in absentia.RUSSIAN OFFICER ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH GALI DEATH
By empty (4/28/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A Georgian military official told Caucasus Press on 28 April that a Russian officer with the peacekeeping force deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone has been detained in connection with the 20 April death of a young Georgian in Gali Raion. He said Russian, Georgian, Abkhaz, and UN officials are investigating the incident together with the North Caucasus Military Prosecutor\'s Office. Also on 28 April, a Russian officer from the North Caucasus Military District told Caucasus Press that the Russian peacekeeper accused of killing the young man acted correctly.GEORGIAN PRESIDENT, FOREIGN MINISTER SEEK TO REASSURE ARMENIAN MINORITY
By empty (4/28/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Georgian Foreign Minister Zourabichvili has assured Armenians currently serving at the Russian military base in Akhalkalaki that the Georgian government will offer them alternative employment after that base is closed. Meeting on 28 April with visiting Armenian parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian, President Saakashvili likewise affirmed that the Georgian government will implement a development plan for the remote, impoverished, and mountainous region, including improving existing highways linking it with other parts of Georgia and with neighboring Armenia. (Caucasus Press).Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, "Promise and Peril in the Caucasus," AFPC Insights, March 30, 2023.
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Putin's War In Ukraine and the Crimean War), 19fourtyfive, January 2, 2023
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Russia Needs Its Own Charles de Gaulle, Foreign Policy, July 21, 2022.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them, June 2022
Oped Svante E. Cornell & Albert Barro, With referendum, Kazakh President pushes for reforms, Euractiv, June 3, 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell Russia's Southern Neighbors Take a Stand, The Hill, May 6, 2022.
Silk Road Paper Johan Engvall, Between Bandits and Bureaucrats: 30 Years of Parliamentary Development in Kyrgyzstan, January 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell, No, The War in Ukraine is not about NATO, The Hill, March 9, 2022.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot, The National Interest, January 34, 2022.
Book S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell, Strong and Unique: Three Decades of U.S.-Kazakhstan Partnership, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, December 2021.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr & Albert Barro, Political and Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan Under President Tokayev, November 2021.