Category: Politics

Kyrgyz-Russian Firm to Supply U.S. Air Base in Kyrgyzstan

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date October 4, 2011
No Comments on Kyrgyz-Russian Firm to Supply U.S. Air Base in Kyrgyzstan

A Russian controlled Gazpromneft-Aero Kyrgyzstan says it will begin supplying 20 percent of aviation fuel required by a vital U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan from November.

The fuel supply contract was signed last week between U.S. Defense Logistics Agency and Gazpromneft Aero-Kyrgyzstan.

“The Americans have to be certain that we can deal with that volume of supplies. And maybe then [we] will start delivering more than 50 percent of the base’s needs,” said Tilek Isayev, head of the Gazpromneft-Aero Kyrgyzstan.

Central Asia Legal & Regulatory Politics

Turkmenistan Has First Open Trial Since Niyazov Cult Time

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date August 1, 2011
No Comments on Turkmenistan Has First Open Trial Since Niyazov Cult Time

Turkmenistan’s Supreme Court has sentenced three central bank officials for bribery at the end of a Niyazov-style open trial, unprecedented under current president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. State television showed the open trial last Friday.

Berdymukhammedov predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, who enjoyed a bizarre personality cult during his 21-year rule until he died suddenly of a heart attack in December 2006, had routinely held show trials of top officials to demonstrate his attempts to root out corruption.

Eastern Europe Economy & Foreign Trade Finance & Taxes Issue Legal & Regulatory Politics

Ukraine to Confirm Pension Reform for IMF Tranche

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date July 11, 2011
No Comments on Ukraine to Confirm Pension Reform for IMF Tranche

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has approved an unpopular pension reform bill set as a key requirement to unlock a US$15.6 billion aid package from the International Monetary Fund to the Ukrainian economy.

The bill, approved early Friday, is designed to overhaul Ukraine’s Soviet-era pension system as the government seeks to slash spending in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis.

Ukraine’s parliament approved a government bill on pension reform at first reading on June 16.

Central Asia Culture & History Issue Politics

Mongolians in Korea Celebrate Naadam

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date June 20, 2011
No Comments on Mongolians in Korea Celebrate Naadam

Mongolians in South Korea will celebrate their traditional Naadam Festival on June 26 for the first time since the Mongolian diaspora had been formed in the country.

The festival will be organized by the efforts of Mongolian Association in Ujinbu.

Golomt and Khaan Banks, headhunted in Ulaanbaatar, together with Seoul Global Center and two Korean lenders Woori Bank and Shinhan Bank announced will sponsor the cultural event, infoMongolia.com reports.

Central Asia Economy & Foreign Trade Politics

Mongolia May Store Taiwanese and South Korean Spent Nuclear Fuel

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date April 8, 2011
No Comments on Mongolia May Store Taiwanese and South Korean Spent Nuclear Fuel

Mongolia may store Taiwan’s and South Korea’s spent nuclear fuel, a senior U.S. diplomat said to the Global Security Newswire.

According to Richard Stratford, who directs the State Department’s Nuclear Energy, Safety and Security Office, U.S. Energy Department’s officials and their counterparts in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, are in the early stages of discussion.

Central Asia China Culture & History Current Events Issue Politics Russia

Aftermath of Middle East Rebellions to Hit Central Asian States

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date March 14, 2011
No Comments on Aftermath of Middle East Rebellions to Hit Central Asian States

Oil-rich Azerbaijan had its first Facebook-organized rally last Friday.

According to Amnesty International information, about 300 people gathered in the city’s Fountain Square for a rally held by the Musavat opposition party. Several people were also detained on their way to the event by the police.

“There is no justification for heavy-handed tactics to be used against obviously peaceful protestors,” said Natalia Nozadze, Amnesty International’s Azerbaijan expert who was present at the protest.

Central Asia Current Events Issue Legal & Regulatory Politics

Kazakhs Try to Keep First President

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date January 18, 2011
No Comments on Kazakhs Try to Keep First President

Kazakhstan’s long-serving president Nursultan Nazarbayev on Monday asked a constitution council to examine a proposed referendum on another decade of unchallenged rule, which would allow him to bypass two elections and lead the country unopposed until 2020.

On December 27, the Central Election Commission registered a statement by the initiative group in favor of such a plebiscite, which was endorsed by both houses of parliament. In their letter to Nazarbayev, the legislators asked him “to support the initiative to call a national referendum on the following question: Do you accept the law on Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, envisaging the possibility of extending in a national referendum the powers of the first president of Kazakhstan?”

Culture & History Current Events Economy & Foreign Trade Issue Politics

Lukashenko Wins His Fourth Election

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date December 20, 2010
No Comments on Lukashenko Wins His Fourth Election

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko won a fourth term on Monday after a landslide victory marred by a violent police crackdown on mass protests and the arrest of opposition challengers.

Early Monday the state electoral commission said Lukashenko had won 79.7 percent with Sannikov, his closest rival, garnering only 1.6 percent.

Belarus police Monday arrested hundreds of protestors. The numbers of demonstrators at a rally in central Minsk swelled to tens of thousands at one point, AFP correspondents reported, with some of them trying to storm government buildings and smashing the glass doors.

Finance & Taxes Issue Legal & Regulatory Politics

Yanukovych Vetoes Ukraine’s New Tax Code

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date December 2, 2010
No Comments on Yanukovych Vetoes Ukraine’s New Tax Code

A new version of the tax code will be presented to the Ukrainian Parliament by Thursday after President Viktor Yanukovych has exercised his right of veto the bill, caving in to the largest opposition protest since his election in February.

The new version will be drafted by the president’s office and the government together with representatives of small businesses.

Eastern Europe Economy & Foreign Trade International Relations Politics Russia

Estonia to Reduce Russian Energy Dependence

Post author By The Proletariat
Post date October 26, 2010
No Comments on Estonia to Reduce Russian Energy Dependence

Estonia’s Parliament will accept a bill allowing the separation of AS Eesti Gaas’s natural gas sales and transmission divisions in two years to reduce dependence on Russia’s Gazprom.

A draft bill requiring Eesti Gaas AS, an Estonian natural gas company which imports and sells natural gas, to split the ownership of sales and networks by Jan. 1, 2013 is “90 percent ready,” said Igor Grazin, a lawmaker with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip’s Reform Party, in a interview with Bloomberg.