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Editor: Eugene Imas Contributors: -Joseph Gates -Matthew OBrien -Bree Swineford -Jillian Tetirick -Grace Tran

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03/11/13-03/15/13

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On Tuesday, Ayez Zeynally, a journalist for the opposition newspaper Khural daily, was sentenced to nine years for extortion. Human Rights groups condemned the move, stating that the verdict was politically motivated and that Zeynally was arrested for his critical articles against the government.

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Azerbaijan

Country News Digest

Russia

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Reuters

On Thursday, Russia and the European Union signed a deal for a joint Mars mission to examine the planets soil samples. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos stated that they would embark on a two part mission. As part of the ExoMars mission, ESA and Roscosmos plan to launch two orbiters into space in 2016 and 2018. Space.com

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NBC News

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The Georgian Parliament passed a resolution on March 8 that affirms the countrys intentions to pursue a Western-oriented foreign policy. The document upholds Georgias policy of refusing formal diplomatic relations with countries that recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia but also provides for ties with Russia in the spirit of good neighborly relations.

Georgia

Three military-trained attack dolphins have escaped their handlers in Ukraine. It is assumed that the three dolphins are pursuing mates. The Ukrainian government denies the existence of a military dolphin program, but such programs existed since at least the 1980s under Soviet control.

Ukraine

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RIA Novosti

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Washington Times

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The re-elected Aremenian President, Serzh Sargysan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week. Analysts have speculated that Putin would take the opportunity to press Sargysan on the issue of joining the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Neither side has let on that any progress has been made on the issue, indicating that Armenia has resisted Russias advances, experts claim.

Armenia

Belarus and Serbia announced plans to improve bilateral cooperation on Serbian President Tomislav Nikolis two-day trip to Minsk. This was the first trip by a Serbian President to Belarus in 17 years. They agreed on the joint manufacture of goods and expressed hoped that trade would soon reach $500 million in the near future.

Belarus

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Eurasia Net

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Armenia Now

B92

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Belta

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The Kurdistans Workers Party (PKK) is expected to declare a ceasefire next week. Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK, has been talking with the Turkish government from his prison cell since October of last year. The tentative deal would call on the PKK to abandon its pursuit of self-rule in exchange for Turkish reforms, which would allow the Kurds to pursue their political goals without fear of imprisonment.

Turkey

PM Vlad Filats government resigned on March 8 after losing a confidence vote three days earlier. The confidence vote was put forward by the opposition Communists after two parties withdrew from Filats ruling coalition. If a new government is not formed within six weeks, early elections will be called.

Moldova

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The Economist

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Bishkek expects the sale of the Kyrgyz national gas company, Kyrgyzgaz, to Russias Gazprom by the end of the month. In 2012 Gazprom offered to buy a 75% stake in the heavily indebted gas company for $1, while also investing $500 million and paying off its $40 million debt. This past December Gazprom offered to buy 100% of Kyrgyzgaz.

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BNE

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Reuters

Afghan President Hamid Karzai implied this week that American forces might be turning a blind eye to Taliban suicide attacks in order to create a pretense for maintaining troop presence past the 2014 withdrawal deadline. The commander of US troops in Afghanistan, Gen. Joseph Dunford, warned other high-ranking generals that such statements could inspire further attacks. Articles: Washington Post NY Times

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Kazakhstan has awarded Systra a contract to build the countrys first highspeed rail line between Astana and Almaty. The route will be more than 1,000 km long, and trains will travel up to 250 km/hr. Kazakhstan hopes to have the rail line finished by the 2017 World Expo in Astana.

Kazakhstan

In an attempt to prolong the Assad regime in Syria, Iran has begun cooperating with Hezbollah to create a 50,000-strong army to bolster crumbling government forces. Iran supplies weapons and funding for the army, which it hopes to increase eventually to 100,000 troops. Iran has close ties to the Assad regime and Hezbollah due to their shared Shiite Muslim faith.

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Tajikistan is increasingly worried about Uzbekistans plans to build a railway that bypasses Tajik territory. The current Soviet-era railway crosses Tajikistans northern Sughd Province, providing Tajikistan with $25 million in annual transit fees. At the same time, Tajikistan is in talks with Turkmenistan to build a railway to Afghanistan.

Tajikistan

The President of Turkmenistan called his Armenian counterpart to congratulate him on the recent re-election. Turkmen president Berdymuhamedov and Armenian president Sargysan then discussed further strengthening TurkmenArmenian relations.

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Panorama

Eurasianet

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Vestnik Kavkaza

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Armen Press

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In an interview with Swiss magazine Bilan, Gulnara Karimova broke her silence about allegations that she is connected with two ongoing corruption investigations in Europe involving the Russian telecommunications company MTS and Swedish telecom company TeliaSonera. Karimova attacked her enemies, saying they are just trying to undermine her reputation and take away from her charitable work.

Uzbekistan

The United States Treasury has abstained from a vote concerning the involvement of the World Bank Group in Rio Tintos Oyu Tolgoi mining project. In a report issued this week, US officials raised concerns about the projects lack of attention towards environmental impact and inadequate planning of the operations stage of the mine.

Mongolia

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Wordpress

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Eurasianet

Business Spectator

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Enterprise Estonia (EE), a publicly-funded organization created to boost economic growth in the country, has come under fire for new policies adopted over the past few weeks. Issues include favoring small to medium enterprises for funding over larger businesses and the decision to increase the pay of EEs CEO.

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Estonia

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Numerous Czech businesses were the victims of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks last week in the largest cyberattack in Czech history. DDoS attacks overload a companys server, which then denies access to actual customers. The attack is believed to have been launched from Russia. Prague Monitor

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ERR News

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The Economist

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The Lithuanian government has deepened its ties with authorities in both Palestine and Nagorno-Karabakh. On March 14, Lithuania announced the creation of a LithuaniaArtsakh Friendship Group and also upgraded its diplomatic ties to Palestine from a commission to a fullfledged mission.

Lithuania

Inflation has slowed down in Slovakia in the first two months of 2013. In 2012 the country averaged an inflation rate of 3.6%. This year inflation was calculated as being 2.4% in January and 2.2% in February. Consumer prices stagnated last month, posting a 0.6% increase. The 2013 annual average inflation rate is forecasted to be 2.3%.

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Articles: Armenia Public Radio

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Slovak Spectator

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Reports indicate that the Latvian economy experienced the greatest rate of growth of all European Union member states in 2012. Although the small Baltic nation ranks among the poorest in the EU, the 5.6% GDP growth rate is welcome news to Latvia, as it prepares to adopt the Euro in the coming months.

Latvia

Hungarys President Janos Ader has vowed to sign a bill into law that amends the Hungarian Constitution in a way that international observers claim restricts the independence of the judiciary. Among the amendments in the bill are provisions that eliminate judicial precedent before 2012, which critics claim allow the courts to make purely arbitrary rulings.

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Former Polish President Lech Walesa stirred up controversy across Poland on March 1 when he made remarks that gay lawmakers should not participate in Parliament. He will not be prosecuted for hate crimes, although rights groups have filed complaints. Some 2/3 of Poles have responded that they disagree with Walesa.

Poland

Washington Post

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Polskie Radio

German Ambassador to Romania Andreas von Mettenheim has suggested Romania should tackle corruption and crime to get into the Schengen Area. His comments come after Germany threatened to veto the membership of Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen zone last week at a meeting of EU interior ministers. Romanian President Traian Basescu has called on the parliament and government to work together towards Schengen membership. Articles: Romania Insider Nine OClock

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Earlier this week 36-yearold Dimitar Dmitrov set himself on fire in front of the presidential palace in the capital. He is the fourth person in less than a month to commit an act of selfimmolation in protest of the countrys corruption and record high unemployment.

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Croatia

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Bulgaria

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Las Vegas Sun

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BBC

The Croatian Parliament has ratified a decision to remove its troops from the UN peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights. Policymakers concluded that Croatian forces could become targets for Syrian troops, after a report released last month asserted that Croatia was involved with funneling weapons to rebels in Syria, a claim that Croatia has disputed. Articles: Voice of Russia Associated Press Kerzner International Holdings has decided to build a new One&Only resort in Montenegro. It will be the first resort opened by Kerzner in Europe and will be situated in the town of Kumbor on the Adriatic Sea.

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Albania has announced its plans to offer unilateral visa-free travel for Russian citizens for the summer tourist season ( June-October). Tirana also announced automatic citizenship for anyone who invests $200,000 into the Albanian economy. Four years ago, Albanian Ambassador to Russia Sokol Gioka introduced 90-day visa-free stay for Russians, which increased the number of Russian tourists coming into Albania.

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Agrophilia

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Voice of Russia

TravelWeekly

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Over 15,000 people turned out in Belgrade on March 12 to mark the anniversary of the 2003 assassination of PM Zoran Djindjic. Djindjic was Serbias first democratically elected prime minister with no ties to the former communist government. His legacy includes extraditing former-Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic and starting the process of European integration that today has Serbia on path to join the EU.

Serbia

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met first in Pristina and then in Belgrade in an effort to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo. Kosovar president Hashim Thaci was optimistic that a deal was in sight and stated that they were in the last stages for reaching an agreement.

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Chicago Tribune

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The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, which ranks countries according to their attractiveness in tourism, was recently released. Macedonia ranked as the fourth friendliest country, thanks to their positive attitude towards foreign visitors.

Macedonia

Slovenia was able to avoid early elections as Alenka Bratusek, the prime minister-designate, was able to form a four-party coalition. The coalition will control 49 out of the 90 seats in parliament. Parliament will likely vote next week to approve the new government.

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On Tuesday the National Bosnia & Assembly of Republika Herzegovina Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), elected a new government headed by Zeljko Cvijanovic - the republics first female prime minister. In her speech Cvijanovic pledged the new government would work towards greater cooperation with the Federation of BiH (FBiH), tackle corruption, and build greater financial stability. Balkans.com

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The Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies is a U.S. Department of Education Title VI-funded National Resource Center (NRC) that 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 to the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas

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Box 571031, ICC 111, Washington, DC 20057-1031 Email: ceres@georgetown.edu Tel.: (202) 687-6080 Fax: (202) 687-5829

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