News Digest
MEMORIAL SAYS RUSSIAN SECURITY SERVICE DETAINED TURKMEN DIPLOMATS
By empty (9/5/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Moscow human rights organization Memorial has issued a report asserting that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained several Turkmen diplomats in Moscow on 17 August for allegedly engaging in activities not compatible with their diplomatic status. An FSB spokesman was quoted as saying the detained officials included the first secretary of the Turkmen Embassy in Moscow, a representative of the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, and an official of the Turkmen National Security Ministry who was allegedly sent to Moscow to undertake actions against the Turkmen opposition. The detainees have been released, but eight employees of the Turkmen Embassy in Moscow were expelled from the country.FORMER UZBEK ISLAMIC MILITANT BEING INTERVIEWED BY MEDIA
By empty (9/4/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A former IDU militant is being allowed by the Uzbek National Security Service to give interviews to the foreign media. Azizbek Karimov, who was arrested in May 2003, has told foreign journalists that Tohir Yuldashev, one of the most important IDU leaders, is in hiding in Pakistan and planning new attacks. Karimov has claimed that he was trained in a Chechen guerrilla camp and also had contact with an Al-Qaeda member, who paid him to attack the U.TWO MORE TAJIKS KILLED BY LAND MINES ON UZBEK BORDER
By empty (9/4/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Two Tajik citizens were killed on 2 September by Uzbek land mines on the common border of the two countries. According to Tajikistan\'s Border Protection Committee, the two fatalities brought to 45 the number of Tajik citizens killed since August 2002 by land mines laid by the Uzbek military as part of Uzbekistan\'s efforts to stop penetration of Uzbek territory by militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IDU). A total of more than 60 Tajik citizens are reported to have been killed by the Uzbek land mines.KAZAKHSTAN AGREES WITH OIL MAJORS TO DELAY KASHAGAN
By empty (9/4/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Kazakhstan has agreed with oil majors to delay the start of production at its huge Kashagan oil field by at least two years until 2007 after months of discussion, a Kazakh official said. \"There is no dispute between the government and investors, we simply have slightly different visions of the field\'s development,\" the head of Kazakh state oil firm Kazmunaigaz, Kairgeldy Kabyldin, told reporters late on Wednesday. \"The government has a firm position that production should start at the end of 2006, while investors propose that it begin at the end of 2007, citing a number of technical reasons,\" he said.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.