Field Reports

From October 13, Georgia employs a visa-free regime for Russian citizens registered as residents of the North Caucasus. By simplifying trans-border communication with North Caucasians, Tbilisi seeks to improve its soft power against Russia. Whereas the initiative seems risky, Tbilisi may acquire certain benefits from it.

Two cases of persecution of journalists in Uzbekistan have received wide publicity during the last couple of weeks. The first case refers to a lawsuit against the editor of the Russian website www.vesti.uz and a correspondent of the “Parliamentary Newspaper”, Russian citizen Vladimir Berezovskiy, who was charged with “libel and insult”. The second case refers to the lawsuit against the “Voice of America” radio reporter Abdumalik Boboev, who was accused under similar charges. As a result of these lawsuits, both journalists could be imprisoned or charged with considerable fines.

On October 15, the Prime Ministers of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, which now form the Customs Union (CU), met in Moscow to discuss the progress achieved in moving further towards increased economic integration and trade cooperation under common rules and procedures. The heads of three governments reiterated their countries' preparedness to establish a single economic area from January 1, 2012. They also expressed their full satisfaction with the pace of legislative and normative developments aimed at bringing closer relevant legal instruments in all three territories.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs carried out a Field Assessment Mission to the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh on October 7-13. During this period, Bernard Fassier (France), Robert Bradke (U.S.) and Igor Popov (Russia) traveled all the seven regions around the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The declared goals of the mission supported by three technical experts, including two from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was “to study the general situation in the region”. “Two of three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have been appointed only recently, they have never been in the conflicts zone and do not know the situation in details”, the Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandian said on October 4, implying Bradke and Popov. “They will use the opportunity and familiarize themselves with the situation”, the minister said. Nalbandian also informed that the initial agreement to organize this mission was reached as early as in the spring of 2010. Prior to the start of the mission, the co-chairs held separate meetings with the presidents and foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the leaders of the unrecognized NKR.

The electoral campaign for the October 10 parliamentary election in Kyrgyzstan proved highly competitive. Twenty-nine political parties ran for the national parliament, and according to local experts, for the first time had equal opportunities for reaching out to the electorate. The country never experienced such a dynamic electoral campaign in its history. However, despite the level playing field and the more or less civilized campaigns that political parties reportedly conducted, a number of events and incidents related to the campaign made the political struggle more complicated and aggressive, and perhaps even posed a threat to the conduct of the election itself.

On September 20, Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov took part in the UN “Millennium Development Goals” plenary meeting in New York. Identifying wars and conflicts throughout the world as the major obstacles to development, Karimov’s speech at the meeting covered three major topics: ways for bringing peace to Afghanistan, stabilizing the situation in Kyrgyzstan, and issues of water usage in the Central Asian region. These topics were not accidental – each one touches upon Uzbekistan’s international and regional interests. Moreover, of President Karimov’s speech shed light on the positions Uzbekistan takes on the above-mentioned issues.

The security situation in Tajikistan has destabilized lately. On September 19, a military convoy transporting national army servicemen was attacked in the Rasht region. Twenty-six officers and soldiers were killed and ten wounded. The Tajik authorities accused former field commanders of the United Tajik Opposition for the attack. Starting on September 22, a large-scale military operation for eliminating the militants was underway in the Rasht region. However, news from the field has not been positive – every other day new casualties from among national army soldiers are reported. Meanwhile, the Tajik Ministry of Defense criticized some independent media sources, accusing them of being “provocative” and providing subjective coverage of the events in Rasht. It should be noted that all means of communication with the Rasht region are cut off since the military operation started, and no journalists are allowed into the region.

On September 15-16, the presidents of Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan came together for the 10th summit of the Turkic speaking countries to strengthen economic ties and foster solidarity over a common cultural heritage. Within the framework of the summit, the energy ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan held three-way talks on the construction of gas pipelines including the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline project and export of gas from Turkmenistan to Turkey with further routes to Europe.

On September 22, the Tajik army and law enforcement agencies began a massive security operation in the Rasht valley in the country’s east. The operation reportedly targets former United Tajik Opposition (UTO) rebels and “foreign mercenaries” who were behind the deadly assault on government forces three days earlier.

Armenia declared in August 2010 that it would start preparations for a new nuclear power unit next year and will start construction of the unit in 2012.