News Digest
RUSSIA EXTRADITES SUSPECTED ISLAMISTS TO UZBEKISTAN – FSB
By empty (3/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Russia has arrested on its territory and extradited to Uzbekistan 19 people suspected of links with the international Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir since the start of 2006, Sergei Smirnov, first deputy director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), said on Wednesday. \"Hizb ut-Tahrir poses the greatest danger on the territory of Central Asian states\" and is \"carrying out propaganda of terrorism not only in Uzbekistan but also in Russia,\" Smirnov told reporters after a meeting of the governing body of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. (Interfax).KYRGYZ EX-PRESIDENT WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR HIS RULE
By empty (3/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Maksim Maksimovich, a lawyer defending former Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev, told a news conference in Bishkek on March 29 that Akaev does not intend to make any public apologies for his actions as president, Kabar reported. Maksimovich said that Akaev is currently teaching at Moscow State University and living in one of Russian President Vladimir Putin\'s residences near Moscow. Maksimovich also said that he has formally requested that Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General Kambaraly Kongantiev conduct a criminal investigation into allegations by former Prosecutor-General Azimbek Beknazarov that Akaev offered him a bribe if he dropped criminal charges against the ex-president.CHINA TO LEND TAJIKISTAN $172 MILLION
By empty (3/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
China plans to loan Tajikistan $172 million for investment projects in Tajikistan. Ghafur Rasulov, a spokesman for Tajikistan\'s Economy and Trade Ministry, told Regnum that the funds are part of a $900 million loan package China has made available under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, whose members are China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajik Economy and Trade Minister Hakim Soliev is currently in Beijing for talks on Chinese support for projects in Tajikistan, Soliyev said.RUSSIAN MIDEAST EXPERT OFFERS HIS COUNTRY AS A MODEL
By empty (3/28/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Yevgeny Primakov -- a former foreign minister and current president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as a veteran Middle East expert -- told the first-ever meeting of the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group in Moscow on March 27 that his country is a model for good Christian-Muslim relations, news agencies reported. \"There is perhaps no other state with a population made up of a Christian majority and Muslim minority that could serve as well as Russia as an example of their living peacefully, the interpenetration of cultures, and the creation of a diverse communality,\" Primakov added. (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.