News Digest
DETAILS OF RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN GAS AGREEMENT REMAIN UNCLEAR
By empty (4/7/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In an April 6 statement, Russia\'s state-owned Gazprom announced that under an agreement finalized with Armenia, it will gain control of the export pipeline currently under construction to provide Armenia with gas from Iran, RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported. Gazprom said it will take possession of the first, 40 kilometer section of that pipeline this autumn, and that the ArmRosGazprom joint venture will be awarded the right to build the second, 197-kilometer section. But a senior Armenian government official told RFE/RL on April 5 that the deal with Gazprom, under which that company is to receive the fifth unit of the Hrazdan thermal power plant, does not entail yielding control of the export pipeline from Iran.CANADIAN CITIZEN FACES EXTRADITION TO CHINA FROM UZBEKISTAN
By empty (4/7/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Huseyin Celil, a naturalized Canadian citizen who has been arrested in Uzbekistan, faces extradition to China, where he could face the death penalty, the \"Toronto Star\" and the \"Globe and Mail\" reported on April 6. A Chinese court sentenced Celil, described by his family as a Chinese-born Uyghur rights activist, to death in absentia for his political activities, the \"Globe and Mail\" reported. Celil, who gained Canadian citizenship several months ago, traveled to Tashkent to meet with his family.RIGHTS GROUP BLASTS GERMAN REFUSAL TO PROSECUTE UZBEK EX-MINISTER
By empty (4/7/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement on the organization\'s website (http://www.hrw.org) on April 6 stating its intention to challenge the German federal prosecutor\'s decision not to open a case against former Uzbek Interior Minister Zokir Almatov.AZERBAIJAN \'WILL NOT JOIN ANTI-IRAN COALITION\'
By empty (4/6/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Azerbaijan wants to maintain \"good neighborly\" relations with all regional states, and for that reason will not join any coalition against Iran, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told journalists in Baku on April 6. Azimov said his recent talks in Washington touched on Iran\'s insistence on its right to conduct uranium enrichment and the hypothetical threat to the region from Iranian nuclear weapons. But, Azimov added, the United States \"does not want anything from Azerbaijan\" in that context.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.