News Digest
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS BAN ON HEADSCARVES IN DOCUMENT PHOTOS
By empty (3/5/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Supreme Court on 4 March rejected an appeal by 10 Muslim women from Tatarstan who asked the court to overturn a Tatarstan Interior Ministry ban on wearing headscarves in photographs for their domestic passports and other official documents, newsru.com and other Russian news agencies reported. The women argued that the ban on headscarves violates constitutional right to freedom of conscience, and they asked the Supreme Court to overturn rulings by a municipal court in Kazan and the Supreme Court of Tatarstan that upheld the Interior Ministry\'s ban.GUNMEN TARGET CHECHEN ADMINISTRATION HEAD
By empty (3/4/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov escaped uninjured on the evening of 1 March when gunmen opened fire on his motorcade in the town of Argun, Russian news agencies reported only after a two-day delay. Three Chechen police officers and four of Kadyrov\'s bodyguards were reported killed in the attack, together with several of the attackers. Chechen Prosecutor-General Vladimir Kravchenko initially told Interfax that Kadyrov was not traveling in the motorcade, but Kadyrov later confirmed that he asked his driver to halt when the motorcade ran into what he termed an exchange of fire.MOSCOW PREPARES TO SEND NAVY TO THE PERSIAN GULF
By empty (3/4/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Despite earlier denials, Moscow will send a naval group to the Persian Gulf, \"Izvestiya\" reported on 3 March. The Pacific Fleet has finished preparations to send warships including the cruisers \"Admiral Pantaleev\" and the \"Marshal Shaposhnikov\" to the Persian Gulf region, where they will rendezvous with a group from the Black Sea Fleet headed by the cruiser \"Moskva.\" According to initial plans, the Pacific Fleet group should have set sail at the end of February, but now an unidentified source at the fleet\'s command in Vladivostok told the daily that the exact start date for the mission will depend on the situation in the gulf and on the decisions of the country\'s political leadership.TURKMENISTAN IMPOSES NEW TRAVEL RULES
By empty (3/3/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has introduced new rules for entering Turkmenistan and stay there to start March 1. Consular Sections abroad will send applications for entry visas to a commission that will check the applications and decide whether or not a visa should be granted. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov will head the commission, which is also to include the deputy foreign, national security, defense and interior ministers, the Federal Border Guard Service head and parliament and presidential administration members.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.