News Digest
POLICE CONDUCT SWEEP OF MOSCOW MOSQUES
By empty (3/4/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Nafigulla Ashirov, co-chairman of the Russian Council of Muftis, told Ekho Moskvy on 3 March that Moscow police have been conducting passport checks of worshipers at two mosques in Moscow since 27 February. Since that time, about 80 people have been taken away from one of these mosques, Ashirov said. He complained that the checks and detentions occurred on the main Muslim holy day of the week, Friday, and that the police officers have behaved \"rudely and unprofessionally.RUSSIA\'S TOP COP ADMITS COUNTRY HAS SKINHEAD PROBLEM
By empty (3/4/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
For the first time, a senior federal-level official has admitted the existence of \"right-wing, extremist, fascist youth groups\" in Russia, \"Izvestiya\" reported on 3 March. According to the daily, acting Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev told a meeting of top law enforcement officials on 2 March that Russia \"is threatened by extreme manifestations of extremism in the youth sphere.\" According to the daily, federal officials have not previously acknowledged the existence of the fascist youth movement, devotees of \"white power\" or skinheads.RUSSIAN OFFICIAL SAYS TAJIK BASE TALKS DEADLOCKED
By empty (3/4/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A highly placed official in the Russian Defense Ministry said talks with Tajikistan on the transformation of Russia\'s 201st Motorized Infantry Division into a military base are \"deadlocked.\" According to the source, Tajikistan wants Russia to forgive $300 million in Tajik sovereign debt to Russia and to pay $50 million for the use of a military communications facility in Nurek. \"The Tajik authorities have gone so far as to consider their own property all of the Russian weapons, equipment, and infrastructure facilities located in the republic,\" the Russian Defense Ministry source told the news agency.FIVE RUSSIAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN CHECHNYA
By empty (3/3/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Rebel attacks and land mines killed five Russian soldiers in Chechnya over the previous day, an official in the Moscow-backed Chechen administration said Wednesday. Three of the Russian soldiers were killed and another five were wounded as federal outposts came under rebels\' fire 20 times, the official said on condition of anonymity. Two others were killed and one wounded in two separate land mine explosions, he said.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.