News Digest
SAAKASHVILI SAYS THAT RUSSIANS MAY NOT NEED VISAS
By empty (4/29/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili does not rule out the unilateral cancellation of the visa requirement for Russian nationals, he told reporters on Friday after visiting southern Georgia. \"We unilaterally simplified visa regulations with Russia and are ready to fully cancel visas now,\" he said. He said the decision will be made \"if the coming talks with the Russian side end well.JAILED TAJIK OPPOSITION LEADER ABDUCTED, LAWYERS SAY
By empty (4/30/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Azam Badriddinov and Shirinmoh Ibronova, the lawyers defending Muhammadruzi Iskandarov, the jailed head of Tajikistan\'s Democratic Party, held a news conference in Dushanbe on 30 April to share details of Iskandarov\'s recent disappearance in Russia and reappearance in custody in Tajikistan, RFE/RL\'s Tajik Service reported. Badriddinov and Ibronova, who recently held their first meeting with Iskandarov in custody, said he was abducted in Moscow on 16 April by a group of unidentified men of Slavic appearance wearing Russian police uniforms. They held him overnight in a sauna before handing him over to another group the next day.KYRGYZ PRESIDENTIAL RACE BEGINS
By empty (5/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Kyrgyzstan\'s Central Election Commission has announced the time frame for presidential elections, RFE/RL\'s Kyrgyz Service reported on 1 May. Candidates can be nominated until 26 May. Each candidate must collect 50,000 signatures by 2 June.KYRGYZ PARTY NOMINATES ACTING PROSECUTOR-GENERAL FOR PRESIDENT
By empty (5/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The political council of the Asaba Party reached a decision on 2 May to nominate party head and acting Prosecutor-General Beknazarov for president, RFE/RL\'s Kyrgyz Service reported. Beknazarov told RFE/RL that while the party has the right to nominate whomever it sees fit, he does not plan to comment publicly on the issue until after 10 May. (RFE/RL).Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.