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Analyses |
1 January saw the start of the operation of the new Skovorodino-Daqing pipeline, which will export Russian crude oil onto the Chinese market. This quickly-built pipeline is the first route for the transmission of Russian raw materials to…
Analyses |
On 29 December, the influential newspaper Vedomosti reported corruption allegations brought against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin by Sergei Kolesnikov, a businessman who had business links to Putin’s inner circle from the early 1990s. This…
Analyses |
Since the beginning of the new year, the Belarusian government has continued its policy of repression against the opposition and the independent media. Searches and the confiscation of property in the offices and buildings of opposition…
Analyses |
On 29 December, in the face of opposition from the US Congress, US President Barack Obama appointed Matthew Bryza to the post of ambassador to Azerbaijan, finally filling a position which had been vacant since July 2009. Obama’s decision…
Analyses |
Towards the end of December, in a text published in Diplomatichesky Yezhegodnik (The Diplomatic Yearbook), Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov outlined Moscow’s expectations from the West, especially in matters of international…
Analyses |
The privatisation of Ukrtelekom, the monopolist on the Ukrainian telecommunications market, will take place without a tender, because the only bid was submitted by the Austrian investment fund EPIC. The sale was conducted in a hurry, and…
Analyses | | Lucie Szymanowska
The image of this presidency has been seriously tarnished at its very onset when a wave of international criticism attacked Hungary in connection with the new media act adopted by the Hungarian parliament dominated by representatives of…
Analyses |
From 1 January Slovak central and local government agencies and other budget-financed entities began having to publish any contracts they have concluded in an online database. This step, made as part of the governmental anti-corruption…
Analyses |
The Chinese deputy prime minister, Chin Li Keqiang, was discussing the condition of mutual economic relations with key German politicians and representatives of business circles during his visit to Germany on 6–8 January. Contracts worth…
Analyses |
The euro became the official currency in Estonia on 1 January. The introduction of the common currency, which became possible owing to a policy of sharp budget cuts, crowns the difficult economic reforms and symbolically closes the process…