Tag Archives: security

Russia extends military base lease in Kyrgyzstan

MAY 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia and Kyrgyzstan quietly signed an agreement on April 24 that extended the lease on Russian military bases in the Central Asian state.

This is important not only because it cements Russia’s presence in the country and but also because it was signed in Beijing. China has become so pivotal in Central Asia’s security issues that Beijing feels like a natural venue to sign bilateral military deals — in this case the deal between Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

The deal was signed between the Russian and Kyrgyz defence ministers who had been in Beijing to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the security-focused alliance headed by Russia and China which includes the Central Asian states other than Turkmenistan.

The deal to extend Russia’s lease on an airbase in Kyrgyzstan as well as a handful of other military facilities is an important one. The US operates an airbase just outside the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, and the new Russian-Kyrgyz agreement shows how much weight Russia places on maintaining a foothold in Kyrgyzstan.

Media did not report details of the deal, which had been argued over for months but it is no doubt good for both Russia and Kyrgyzstan, and China, that a agreement has been secured.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 086, published on May 4 2012)

Lavrov visits Tajikistan

APRIL 24 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov flew to Dushanbe for talks with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon on extending a lease for Russia’s military base. Negotiations have stumbled on the cost and length of the lease extension. No deals were announced but media quoted both sides as saying talks will accelerate.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 085, published on April 27 2012)

Azerbaijan concerned with Armenia’s nuclear power station

APRIL 23 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan, now a temporary member of the UN Security Council, asked the UN to close the nuclear power station in Armenia because it was unsafe, media quoted Agshin Mekhdiyev, Azerbaijan’s UN envoy, as saying. Armenia dismissed the demand as propaganda.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 085, published on April 27 2012)

Opposition holds rallies in Azerbaijan

APRIL 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s secular opposition held the first in a series of rallies ahead of next month’s Eurovision Song Contest calling for the resignation of President Ilham Aliyev. Opposition leaders said that 10,000 people attended the sanctioned rally, although police said there were only 1,200 protesters.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 083, published on April 13 2012)

Ex-KGB agent wins vote in the Georgian breakaway region

APRIL 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Leonid Tibilov, a 60-year-old ex-KGB officer, won a 2nd round in a presidential election in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia with 54% of the vote. His opponent accepted the result but alleged some voting irregularities. A protracted election has threatened to destabilise South Ossetia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 083, published on April 13 2012)

Ethnic tension rises in southern Kyrgyzstan

MARCH 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Less than two years after fighting between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks killed at least 400 people in south Kyrgyzstan, ethnic tension is rising again, the International Crisis Group think-tank said in a report. According to the report, southern Kyrgyz leaders have been pursuing anti-Uzbek policies.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 082, published on April 6 2012)

Kazakh citizen dies in Russia’s N.Caucasus

APRIL 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian forces killed a Kazakh national during a raid on suspected Islamic extremists in Dagestan, a republic in Russia’s restive North Caucasus, media reported. Links to radicals in the north Caucasus have contributed to an increasingly active Islamic extremist movement in western Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 082, published on April 6 2012)

Tuvalu recognises Georgian breakaway region

MARCH 17 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – For a Pacific island nation with no connection to the former Soviet Union, Tuvalu has been taking an extraordinarily keen interest in the South Caucasus.

After an international aid donation from Russia, Tuvalu last year became the fifth country to recognise the independence of the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia has been drumming up support for Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the end of a war with Georgia in 2008 and the Pacific islands have been easily pushed in this direction.

Harder to comprehend is why Tuvalu, with a population of 10,500 people, and Armenia have now formally initiated diplomatic relations.

Perhaps the link is, again, Russia. Russia is an important ally of Armenia in the South Caucasus. It supplies Armenia with gas and pays rent on a large military base on Armenian soil.

Officially, no reason has been given for the new Armenia-Tuvalu diplomatic axis, although the Azerbaijani press is full of speculation the Pacific island nation is about to recognise the independence of Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh (which Azerbaijan still disputes).

More likely, though, is that Armenia hoped to win favour with Russia by bolstering the credibility of Tuvalu’s South Caucasus diplomatic strategy. Unlike Abkhazia and South Ossetia, at least Armenia is an internationally recognised nation state.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 081, published on March 30 2012)

Kazakh court accuses 37 men for riot starts

MARCH 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Aktau, west Kazakhstan, started the trial of 37 men accused of violence in a riot in December that killed 16 people. The trial is one of the most highly charged, politically and emotionally, in Kazakhstan’s recent history.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 081, published on March 30 2012)

Azerbaijan makes weapons deal with Israel

FEB. 26 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has agreed to buy $1.6b worth of missiles and drones from Israel, Israeli diplomats told news agencies. Azerbaijan’s defence budget has grown exponentially over the last few years. Azerbaijan’s relations with Iran have worsened recently and its ties with Armenia are historically acrimonious.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 079, published on March 1 2012)