4/06/15 4/10/15

Washington Post New York Times

On Tuesday, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited

Yet, visit passed with images of smiles and

handshakes, as well as a joint news conference, where Erdogan

and Rouhani pledged to work together to solve regional crises.

block the killing and bloodshed,

New York Times US News and World

Wall Street Journal RFE/RL RFE/RL Georgia Today

In commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian genocide,

Armenian-American Kim Kardashian and her family made a

trip to Armenia to pay their respects. Kardashian arrived in

Yerevan on Wednesday with her husband, celebrity Kanye

West, and their daughter, as well as her sister, Khloe. Although

the United States has not officially recognized the genocide as

such, Kardashian has been actively entreating Americans

through her social media to recognize the 1.5 million who lost

their lives.

RFE/RL Guardian

Sputnik News The Moscow Times

Xinhua Belta

On Thurs

reject s Soviet past. The bill passed 254-0. Under

the law, the Communist government in Ukraine from 1917 to

1991 is condemned as a criminal regime that conducted

policies of state terror, with its symbols officially banned. The

law requires the same treatment to the Nazi regime, which

controlled much of Ukraine during WWII.

them in preventing Pankisi youth from joining the so-called

of Elders made the appeal on April 6, amid reports that two

more teenagers left Georgia to join the war in Syria. Relatives

of the 16-year-old Muslim Kushtanashvili and 18-year-old

Ramzan Bagakashvili say the two had sent word they were

now in Turkey. At least seven Georgians from the Pakisi

Gorge have died fighting for IS in Syria.

On Thursday, Russian troops conducted military exercises in

M -Russian separatist region. Russian news

agencies quoted an army representative as saying that 400

troops and 30 pieces of weaponry were involved in drills in

Transnistria, a breakaway region situated between Moldova

and Ukraine. The separatist government of Transnistria has

long been supported by Russia both financially and

diplomatically.

On Tuesday, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, made

the pilgrimage to Mecca with his family. This is the first time

that the president of the secular but predominantly Shia Muslim

country has visited the Haram Mosque Kaaba, one of the most

important holy places in Islam. During his time in Saudi

Arabia, President Aliyev also met with Saudi King Salman Bin

Abdulaziz Al Saud to discuss cooperation between Azerbaijan

and Saudi Arabia.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Minsk from April

8-9 to discuss with President Alexander Lukashenko

continued opportunities for cooperation between China and

Belarus. Lukashenko expressed his desire to expand the

China-Belarus Industrial Park project and

inclusion in the Chinese Silk Road Economic Belt initiative to

link with Belarusian national development strategies. Wang

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrived in Moscow on

Tuesday night to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The officials stated the meeting revolved primarily around

economic measures, but Putin stated that Tsipras has not

requested any Russian financial assistance. European leaders

criticized Tsipras for cozying up to Putin to gain leverage and

Putin for pursuing a divide-and-conquer strategy to prevent the

EU from raising more sanctions. Putin has refuted these

allegations.

EurasiaNet Azer News

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Preliminary nuclear negotiations concluded on Thursday, April

2, in Lausanne, Switzerland with the announcement of a

framework political deal that will allow negotiations to continue

until the June 30 deadline for a full agreement. The framework

involves a significant reduction of the Iranian nuclear program

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed skepticism about the

tentative agreement, and President Hassan Rouhani has

emphasized further demands, including complete lifting of all

sanctions immediately after the implementation of a final deal.

Washington Post The Guardian

Members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization

(CSTO) met in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Thursday, April 9 to

discuss the threat facing the CSTO countries from ISIS groups

in Afghanistan. This meeting comes a week after the foreign

ministers of the member countries met on April 2 to discuss

ways to increase security along the Tajik-Afghan border. After

this meeting, Russian newspapers reported that Russia was

preparing to supply around $1.2 billion of military aid and

equipment to Tajikistan to assist in countering the threat from

the Islamic State. RFE/RL Newsweek

The website of the Turkmen embassy in Minsk, Belarus was

apparently hacked by individuals with ties to the Islamic State

on Thursday, April 9. The website was taken down on Thursday

and the embassy has yet to release a statement addressing the

apparent hacking. Turkmen government officials have recently

emphasized the threat facing Turkmenistan from ISIS and have

requested US support to address threats along its southern

border with Afghanistan.

RFE/RL The Diplomat

On Sunday, Mongolian Prime Minister Saikhanbileg Chimed

announced that Mongolia reached

with mining company Rio Tinto over phase two of the Oyu

Tolgoi copper and gold mine. The two parties were deadlocked

in negotiations for almost two years regarding plans to expand

Oyu Tolgoi and the smaller Tavan Tolgoi coking coal mine.

According to the arrangement, Mongolia will free up $8 billion

for expansions of the mines. Mongolia has been trying to revive

declining foreign investment in the country following disputes

with international companies like Rio Tinto.

Financial Times Reuters

President Islam Karimov has won another term in an election,

with 91% of the vote in what many described as a predictable

result for the ruler who has been in power since 1990.

Monitoring missions from the Commonwealth of Independent

States called the election open and democratic, while the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized

the election as a foregone conclusion because Uzbek citizens

such as Human Rights Watch also criticized the election as

unconstitutional and unfair.

the country was no longer interested in forming a joint

venture with Centerra Gold to develop the Kumtor gold mine.

reserves. Prime Minister Joomart Otorbayev proposed instead

to increase the number of government representatives on

representatives on the 11-

accounts for over 7% of its gross domestic product.

Reuters Times of Central Asia

The Guardian New York Times

Afghanistan saw a steady stream of violence over the past week,

indicating that the Taliban is intensifying attacks for the spring

and summer fighting season. On Friday, a suicide bomber

targeted a US military convoy near Jalalabad, killing four

Afghan civilians and wounding 10 others. Also on Friday, a

roadside bomb in Ghazni province killed 12 passengers in a

minivan. In Mazar-e-Sharif, gunmen in police uniforms

and wounding dozens. On Wednesday, a gunman in Afghan

military uniform attacked US soldiers in Jalalabad, killing one.

New York Times Washington Post

An unusual ring of black smoke was spotted in the air over the

northern village of Shorthandy last Saturday. A local resident

took a video of the ring and posted the footage to YouTube,

which then prompted speculation that the ring was, among other

things,

over 75,000 views. Russian scientists have speculated that the

ring, which dissipated after a few minutes, was caused by a large

combustion. A similar black smoke ring was seen over the

United Kingdom in 2014.

Weather Network IB Times

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iran-calls-for-end-of-saudi-led-airstrikes-on-yemen-after-sending-two-warships/2015/04/09/8a0ab446-de8d-11e4-be40-566e2653afe5_story.htmlhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/09/iran-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-nuclear-deal-neither-backs-nor-rejectshttp://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan-csto-islamic-state-threat/26947425.htmlhttp://www.newsweek.com/russia-plans-send-tajikistan-military-aid-combat-isis-319526http://www.rferl.org/content/turkmen-embassy-in-minsk-hacked/26947114.htmlhttp://thediplomat.com/2015/04/turkmenistan-embassy-website-hacked/http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b5482d08-dc00-11e4-b693-00144feab7de.html#axzz3WpYKlFhBhttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/06/mongolia-copper-investment-idUSL3N0X31UI20150406http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/09/kyrgyzstan-centerragold-idUSL5N0X60EC20150409http://www.timesca.com/news/15181-deal-to-create-kumtor-joint-venture-in-kyrgyzstan-has-failedhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/30/islam-karimov-re-elected-uzbekistans-president-in-predicted-landslidehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/world/asia/uzbekistan-president-is-re-elected.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/world/asia/us-coalition-service-member-killed-in-afghanistan-shooting.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-military-convoy-comes-under-attack-by-suicide-bomber-with-explosives/2015/04/10/37723956-df6a-11e4-a1b8-2ed88bc190d2_story.htmlhttp://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/weird-black-ring-spotted-over-kazakhstan/48858/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/video-mysterious-black-ring-hovering-kazakhstan-skies-sparks-rumours-ufo-sighting-1495117http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/video-mysterious-black-ring-hovering-kazakhstan-skies-sparks-rumours-ufo-sighting-1495117

of-cease-fire-deal?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world

Czech President Milos Zeman said on Sunday that U.S.

Ambassador Andrew Schapiro is henceforth banned from

paying him official visits amid a dispute over the Czech

ceremony in Moscow next month. Zeman announced that the

U.S. Ambassador is unwelcome at his office in the state

ambassador in Washington would advise the US president

This week, Hungary and Greece joined Serbia, Macedonia, and

Turkey in the Russian-

project. A declaration on the project was signed by senior

officials from the five countries in Budapest on Tuesday. The

pipeline, which was designed to replace the cancelled South

Stream pipeline project, has been controversial in the EU,

where it is considered a blow to a unified European response in

regards to Russian aggression in Ukraine. The Turkish Stream

pipeline will bypass both Ukraine and Bulgaria as it transports

Russian gas to central and southeastern Europe.

they will build six watchtowers along the 200-km border with

the Russian enclave Kaliningrad. The watchtowers will be

between 35 and 50 meters in height and will be equipped with

cameras to provide 24-hour surveillance of the border. The

project will cost more than $3.8 million, with 75% of the cost

covered by an EU fund for external borders.

Deutsche Welle news24

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Slovakia on

April 4, his visit coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the

liberation of Bratislava during WWII.

Slovaks, with supporters and detractors present. Slovakia

belongs to the group of EU members which are torn between

maintaining economic ties with Russia and maintaining the

current EU policy line of sanctions.

Ukraine Today Slovak Spectator

Authorities in the Romanian city of Timisoara seized a load of

en route to Spain from Ecuador. The drugs had been chemically

altered to change their scent and color in order to avoid

detection by law enforcement officials and police dogs. (The

drugs would have been chemically treated again at the final

destination to turn back to white powder.) Three men - a

Venezuelan, a Romanian, and a Colombian - were arrested in

connection the shipment, which has been valued at $4.3 million.

Telegraph UK Fox News Reuters Ukraine Today

A top Russian politician and head of the

Relations Committee, Alexei Pushkov, has called for sanctions

to be brought against Latvia after accusing its foreign minister

Pushkov

referred to the Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Renkevics

words on

I come to [the] conclusion that she will end up like German

Reich after both [World War I and World War II] and it'll be

The Moscow Times Ukraine Today

The Guardian Newsweek

DW.de

Budapest Business Journal Eubulletin

Euro News

for

, warmongering, and spreading biased

information elevision

Commission of Lithuania is to be implemented on Monday.

This is first time in the history of the European Union that a

regulatory body has made the decision to take a television

channel completely off-air.

-party coalition has agreed on a series of

measures to cut the national income tax, raise the tax-free

threshold on wages and increase child support benefits after

weeks of negotiation ahead of forming a coalition. The center-

Right Reform party renewed its partnership with leftist Social

Democrats and agreed with conservative IRL party to gain 59

seats in the 101 member parliament. The coalition remains pro-

Western in its commitment to the EU. Eurozone and the NATO.

http://www.dw.de/romanian-police-find-70-kilos-of-black-cocaine/a-18370918http://www.news24.com/Green/News/Romania-seizes-black-cocaine-20150408http://uatoday.tv/politics/slovaks-protest-russia-rsquo-s-lsquo-imperial-and-aggressive-foreign-policy-rsquo-in-ukraine-419572.htmlhttp://spectator.sme.sk/c/20056806/slavin-war-memorial-drew-hundreds.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/czechrepublic/11517662/Czech-president-bans-US-ambassador-from-Prague-castle.htmlhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/06/czech-president-reportedly-bars-us-ambassador-from-official-visits-in-rift-over/http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/08/estonia-government-idUSL6N0WY4IT20150408%206http://uatoday.tv/politics/3-estonian-parties-form-new-pro-eu-coalition-government-420458.htmlhttp://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-politician-wants-latvia-punished-for-reich-tweet/518721.htmlhttp://uatoday.tv/politics/state-duma-calls-for-sanctions-against-latvia-for-comparing-russia-to-germany-after-wars-420002.htmlhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/07/poland-to-build-watchtowers-at-russias-kaliningrad-borderhttp://www.newsweek.com/poland-build-24-hour-surveillance-watchtowers-russian-border-319918http://www.dw.de/lithuania-to-ban-russian-tv-channel-for-warmongering/a-18370852http://www.bbj.hu/economy/report-hungary-and-greece-sign-up-to-russian-gas-pipeline_95595http://eubulletin.com/4342-turkish-stream-hungary-and-greece-sign-up-to-russias-gas-pipeline.htmlhttp://www.euronews.com/2015/04/08/russian-state-owned-rtr-taken-off-air-in-lithuania/

Bulgarian authorities are building a new 160-kilometer fence

along the Turkish border to stem the flow of refugees from the

Middle East and North Africa. The first section of the fence,

some 30 kilometers, was completed last September. The fence

is mostly a four-meter-high metal fence of chicken wire in a

steel frame, with razor wire facing Turkey. The Bulgarian

government is funding the fence through the EU and other

sources, eager to prove that it can control its southern border

amid regional instability.

New York Times

Deputy Prime Minister Hashim Thaci on April 7, Albanian

Prime Minister Edi Rama warned the European Union that if

Kosovo is denied EU membership, Albania and Kosovo will

and Kosovo preferred the alternative of unification through

m

statement did not represent a threat to the EU. Serbian Prime

Minister Aleksandar Vucic accused Albanian leaders of

provoking instability in the region.

This week, Russian news reported that Russia is considering

waiving a 30% import tax on Italian Fiat cars produced in

Serbia, as part of a wider effort to boost ties with its historical

ally in Europe. The request by Serbia to cut the tariffs will be

considered by the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union on

April 15. The move would go both ways, allowing Russia to

also deliver cars to Serbia without import tariffs. President

Vladimir Putin last year said that Russia was open to

country, Italy.

Alleged Serbian war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj set fire to

a Croatian flag last week in an act of protest, after which

he was ordered to return to his detention cell in The Hague.

After the incident, the Croatian Ambassador to Serbia Gordan

Markotic was recalled to Zagreb for consultations. Croatian

authorities lodged a formal protest to Serbia, yet said the

decision of Serbian authorities to file charges against Seselj

lessens the tension between the two countries.

resigned after it was revealed that the police had suppressed a

request from Belgium for the extradition of MP Mark Frroku

on charges of murder. "This oversight is unacceptable for the

prestige of the state police that I lead, so I resign because I

lacked the capacity to prevent it from happening," Didi said.

Police arrested Frroku on Thursday, April 2 after Parliament

his parliamentary immunity be lifted.

On Thursday, the Slovenian Parliament voted 68-11 to

dismiss Defense Minister Janko Veber after an investigation

by a parliamentary commission revealed that he had ordered

the army secret service to examine the national security

implications of the privatization of state-owned Telekom.

P

resignation but Veber refused. Telekom is the largest of 15

firms that were earmarked for privatization in 2013, when

Slovenia faced a serious banking crisis.

Defense News

During a press conference last Wednesday, April 1,

Israel. Zaev said that Saso Mijalkov, head of the intelligence

service, received a large bribe from Israel in exchange for

arranging a deal for the purchase of surveillance equipment

from Israel in 2011. Zaev has accused the government under

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of using this equipment to

conduct widespread illegal wiretapping of Macedonian

citizens.

Russia has been awarded a 3-0 victory over Montenegro

following the match between the countries in a Euro 2016

qualifier in Podgorica last month. Two Russian players were

victims of violence from the crowd. One player was hit by

flare from the audience and another was hit by a missile,

prompting the referee to cancel the game.

I24

Novinite B92 Moscow Times ANSA

In Serbia B92

Reuters

Reuters Albeu The Guardian BBC

World Bulletin ABC News

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/world/europe/bulgaria-puts-up-a-new-wall-but-this-one-keeps-people-out.htmlhttp://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/europe/2015/04/09/slovenian-defence-minister-forced-telecom-scandal/25549215/http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/europe/66788-150406-bulgaria-plans-second-part-of-fence-along-turkey-borderhttp://www.novinite.com/articles/167785/Albania,+Kosovo+Call+for+Greater+EU+Integration,+Warn+of+Unificationhttp://www.b92.net/eng/news/region.php?yyyy=2015&mm=04&dd=07&nav_id=93728http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/russia-considers-tax-cut-for-fiat-car-factory-in-serbia/518808.htmlhttp://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/economics/2015/04/09/serbia-fiat-kragujevac-to-start-export-car-in-russia_cfeb6e9b-24a2-486a-b43a-e154dde72f51.htmlhttp://inserbia.info/today/2015/04/croatia-lodges-protest-over-seseljs-actions-recalls-ambassador/http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=04&dd=01&nav_id=93669http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/09/us-slovenia-minister-idUSKBN0N027320150409http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/31/us-albania-crime-belgium-idUSKBN0MR25K20150331http://english.albeu.com/news/news/frroku-arrested-after-the-parliament-approves-prosecutions-request/194307/http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/08/russia-awarded-3-0-win-montenegro-crowd-trouble-uefahttp://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32225646http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/157298/new-israel-bribes-scandal-taints-macedonia-spy-chiefhttp://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/macedonian-intel-chief-accused-bribery-israel-deal-30048745

On Friday, four Bosnians were charged with financing

terrorist activities and recruiting fighters for the so-called

Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq. The indictment, based on

a new Bosnian law designed to stem the flow of home-grown

fighters to the Middle East, accuses Husein Erdic of

organizing the departure of Nevad Husidic and Merim

Keserovic to join IS. Police estimate 200 Bosnians have left

for Syria over the past three years, 50 of whom have returned

to Bosnia. RFE/RL Reuters

The Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies strives to

increase understanding and appreciation of the cultures and challenges of

the region stretching from Central Europe to the Pacific and from the Baltic,

Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas.