A ceremony to launch the second phase of the SILK-Afghanistan programme, which provides high-speed internet access to Afghan universities and some governmental institutions, took place on 29 May. The signature of a contract between Afghan Telecom and NATO signals a shift from the use of satellites towards fibre-optic communications. This is a more sustainable solution going forward and will help prepare the way for an eventual handover of the network to a European Union funding mechanism in the future.

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Kyrgyzstan will be unable to discharge sufficient scope of water for irrigation purposes to downstream countries as Kambar-Ata-1 hydropower plant has not been built yet, President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambaev said on May 21 at the meeting with representatives of the CIS, Baltic states and Georgia. READ MORE

Pulling the plug on Germany's Euro Hawk project won't have consequences for NATO's surveillance program using "Global Hawk" models. But critics argue a joint European drone project would have been better. READ MORE

A conference on European security, organized by the Russian defense ministry on May 23–24 in Moscow, served as a platform for the top brass to reiterate well-worn themes and perspectives on a range of issues: from the United States’ ballistic missile defense (BMD) system to revamping the existing security structure in Europe. Alongside senior Russian defense officials and experts were a selection of counterparts from the US and Europe who discussed strategic issues linked to European and, indeed, global security. However, the set of interlinked views expressed during the conference—and representative of the ideas and policy stance among Russia’s defense leadership—displayed no tangible advance on similar statements in recent years. This is particularly clear with reference to the address by Army-General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff and first deputy defense minister (Interfax, May 24).  READ MORE

India entered the 21st century as a challenger for the role of a global center of influence, alongside the United States and China. Strategic partnership between Russia and India is a natural phenomenon and objective reality. The two countries’ national interests overlap in many areas. We discussed the current state of affairs and the prospects for the development of Indian-Russian relations with General of the Army, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia, IMEMO Board of Directors member, RIAC member Vyacheslav Trubnikov. READ MORE

The promotion of innovative business within European markets is not only key to overcoming the remaining differences between Russia and the European Union and establishing a mutually beneficial investment environment, but it is also an element of the Russian version of “soft power”. This article examines the existing models of Russia-Europe innovation cooperation, as well as its potential from the perspective of Russian foreign policy strategy. READ MORE

NATO is opening a liaison office in Tashkent -- but don't read too much geopolitical significance into the move. A number of Russian-media outlets have reported the move, seeing in it yet another piece of evidence that Uzbekistan is moving away from Russia (leaving the Collective Security Treaty Organization) and toward the West (cooperating with the U.S. on military transit to and from Afghanistan, getting increasing military aid from Washington). READ MORE

The EU’s climate policy has not vanished but the approach today is probably more balanced towards other aims like energy supply security and competitiveness, Friedbert Pflüger said. READ MORE

The Ukrainian government on Wednesday approved a memorandum applying for observer status in the Customs Union, a Moscow-based trade bloc comprising Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said. READ MORE

At the beginning of April German Chancellor Angela Merkel spent her vacation in the island close to Naples. She was visited by the Campania region governor Stefano Caldoro who afterwards posted a video on his website where he urged her to look at the difficult areas including youth unemployment rates 10 times those of Germany. It is not the first time when Germany is criticised by South European countries complaining that they have to apply strict austerity measures in exchange for financial assistance.   READ MORE