56 participating states of OSCE agreed on February 12 to extend presence of 20 unarmed monitors in the areas adjacent to breakaway South Ossetia until June 30.

OSCE decided on August 19 to "immediately" deploy 20 of its observers in the adjacent areas for the period of at least six months. READ MORE

"There are many urgent problems that demand our attention. They are captured in the rather ambitious title of our session: NATO, Russia, Oil and Gas and the Middle East: the future of European security. That is rather a lot to cover in a short intervention. Let me first focus on the last element: European security as such". READ MORE

The American vice president starts to outline Barack Obama's new foreign policy in Munich.

The new foreign policy of the United States under President Barack Obama is characterized by the willingness to enter into dialog on the one hand and a consistent call for international cooperation on the other hand. While Biden repeatedly stressed the willingness of the new Administration in Washington to enter into dialog, he warned Iran quite bluntly against continuing with its nuclear course. READ MORE

Just recently many European mass media presented Kazakh program “The way to Europe”, developed in accordance with the Letter of Kazakhstan President “Improvement of the well-being of Kazakhstan people – is the main objective of the state policy”. In respect with the Concept of the Republic of Kazakhstan foreign policy, the development of comprehensive cooperation with European countries is a strategic interest of Kazakhstan. We intend to integrate into the process of European cooperation and development, to use to the maximum the potential of technologic, energy, trade and transport cooperation. READ MORE

Exclusive Interview.

How does the dialogue between the EU and Central Asia progress on environment and water issues? Is the EU happy with the progress of the process so far, what has been achieved, what else needs to be done, are all Central Asian countries equally cooperative?
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Energy issues are one of the main subjects of the discussion within plenary session of the European Parliament set on February 2nd in Strasburg. Parliament members focused on general problems of the EU energy policy and the outcomes of gas crisis between Russia and Ukraine. Speaking to the session, EC Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs stated: “The agreement between Ukraine and Russia was concluded for 10 years and we can expect that it would guarantee prevention of the kind of situations in future. But still I’d like to underline that EU observers remain on the positions to monitor gas supplies”. READ MORE

Latest achievements of Russian within Central Asia are so significant, that should be widely discussed. This has been the greatest absurdity of Russian diplomacy since its assistance to American colleagues to change the political regime in Georgia, leading Mihail Saakashvili. Just in a month Russia lost its positions in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan that had been gained in recent years due to support, including financial support of these regimes. Instead, Moscow has gained ephemeral victory in Kirgizia in the issue of American military base withdrawal. Thus total Russian influence will remain only in the poorest Central Asian Republic, despite the Kremlin had other plans. Of course, there is Kazakhstan left and the relations in this sphere are firm – but this is not a merit of Russian policymakers, but of the president Nursultan Nazarbaev, who has developed and followed strict international policy course. READ MORE

Drawing on lessons from the recent gas supply crisis, the Industry Committee set out wide-ranging recommendations for the EU's future energy policy in an own-initiative report . It advocated emergency action plans, more grid interconnections among Member States and new climate targets to be achieved by 2050, including raising the share of renewables to 60% of total consumption. READ MORE

OSCE PA President Joao Soares (Portugal) recently discussed his priorities for the coming year and his hopes for the new Greek Chairmanship of the OSCE. In an interview for the OSCE PA website, Mr. Soares described what he sees as the greatest challenges facing the Organization and the role of the Parliamentary Assembly in addressing these challenges, particularly when it comes to so-called 'frozen conflicts.'

Other issues discussed in the interview included the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's proposal for a 'new European security architecture.'

Here follows the full transcript of the interview. READ MORE

Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the EU stated that Minsk participation within “Eastern Partnership” program won’t disturb close relations between Russia and Belarus. In addition, Russian diplomat stipulated that Moscow “keeps watch over the program thoroughly”. The EU offered six post-Soviet states to join this program. READ MORE