Articles by Sebastian Alison



Rice and Lavrov Clash Over Belarus 'Dictator'

  • 22 April 05
  • Reuters
Russia and the United States clashed on Belarus on Thursday as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rebuffed a call by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for change in central Europe's ""last true dictatorship.""

EU: China Not Yet a Market Economy

  • 29 June 04
  • Reuters
The European Union has refused to grant China coveted Market Economy Status following a request submitted by Beijing last June, the bloc's executive commission said Monday.

EU Urges Russia to Ink Trade Pact

  • 24 March 04
  • Reuters
Time is running out for the European Union and Russia to sign a key agreement regulating ties between themselves just six weeks before 10 new states join the bloc, EU Commissioner Chris Patten said late Monday.

Frustrated EU Making New Policy On Russia

  • 04 February 04
  • Reuters
The European Union is preparing a major review of relations with Russia following a disastrous EU-Russia summit last November, an EU official said Tuesday.

'Ruhnama' Is Required Reading

  • 17 September 02
  • Reuters
At first glance, the students strolling into Ashgabat's neo-classical university on the handsome, tree-lined Avenue of Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great are like their counterparts anywhere else in the world. But with one difference: almost all are clutching a copy of the same rather garish pink and lime-green book.

Khatami Leaves Caspian Talks

  • 24 April 02
  • Reuters
Turkmen officials and summit participants have denied that Iranian President Mohammad Khatami walked out of the opening day of a two-day summit on dividing the Caspian Sea.

5 Caspian Presidents Meet to Divide Sea

  • 23 April 02
  • Reuters
The presidents of all five states surrounding the Caspian Sea will meet in the Turkmen capital on Tuesday to try to settle a decade-old dispute on how to divide the sea, including its gigantic oil and gas wealth.

Kazakhs Defend Secret $1Bln Fund

  • 10 April 02
  • Reuters
Kazakhstan's foreign minister on Tuesday defended a 1996 presidential decision to put $1 billion into a secret foreign bank account, saying this and a spate of recent scandals should not tarnish the country's image.

Poisoned Land Kills Uzbeks

  • 22 March 02
  • Reuters
The Uzbek population is suffering from a Soviet-era agricultural policy, which is creating a desert, destroying the Aral Sea, poisoning land, and ultimately killing people.

Central Asia Plans Closer Political Ties

  • 28 February 02
  • Reuters
Central Asian leaders meet to strengthen their ties this week against the background of a regional political landscape transformed by the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and tensions between other former Soviet states.

Hunt Goes On for Bin Laden, Omar

  • 18 December 01
  • Reuters
Anti-Taliban forces on Monday paraded some of Osama bin Laden's exhausted and routed al-Qaida fighters, captured in the eastern Afghan mountains of Tora Bora, as the United States raised its flag in the capital, Kabul, for the first time in 12 years.

Powell: No Sign of Bin Laden

  • 17 December 01
  • Reuters
The United States said it had no idea where Osama bin Laden was Sunday as his al-Qaida fighters were routed and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to rally troops.

All Quiet on the Tajik-Afghan Border

  • 20 September 01
  • Reuters
Russian guards defending Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan fear an influx of drugs rather than people.

Afghan Leader Massood Buried

  • 17 September 01
  • Reuters
Afghanistan's legendary guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massood was officially declared dead Saturday.

Kazakhstan Ready for Kashagan Riches

  • 05 June 01
  • Reuters
Kazakhstan, the size of Western Europe but with just 15 million people, has colossal reserves of oil, gas and a whole host of other mineral resources, mainly metals.

First Direct Caspian Pipeline Opens

  • 26 March 01
  • Reuters
The first dedicated pipeline to move oil from the Caspian direct to international markets will open Monday after a decade of hype, diplomacy and drama.

Kazakhs Meet With OKIOC to Decide Operatorship

  • 12 February 01
  • Reuters
The Kazakh government is holding talks with the nine-member OKIOC oil consortium Monday to hammer out a deal on who becomes operator of perhaps the world's largest oil find in 30 years, a government spokesman said.

Kazakh Eagles Take Flight as Tradition Returns

  • 07 February 01
  • Reuters
High on a hillside overlooking the sweeping central Asian steppe, a horseman gazes down on the snow-dusted plain, alert for a signal.

BP to Sell Kashagan Stake to Total

  • 05 February 01
  • Reuters
Oil supermajor British Petroleum said Friday it had agreed to sell its stake in Kazakhstan's giant Kashagan oil field to France's TotalFinaElf.

Kazakh Oil Fields Hold Large Promises

  • 02 February 01
  • Reuters
This small Kazakh river port, a little inland from the north coast of the Caspian Sea, is a bleak, cold place in winter, all wide avenues, grim apartment blocks and smoke billowing from factory chimneys.

5 Ex-Soviet States in Economic Union

  • 11 October 00
  • Reuters
Russia and four other states formed The Eurasian Economic Union with similar goals to the European Union.

Putin Pushes for 'Eurasian Union'

  • 10 October 00
  • Reuters
President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan on Monday for his first official visit as president to Moscow’s key Central Asian ally.

Drought Takes Toll on War-Weary Tajiks

  • 29 September 00
  • Reuters
Tajikistan is facing the worst drought in living memory and the UN fears hunger this winter.

Kazakhstan’s Capital Rises From Soviet Ruins

  • 21 September 00
  • Reuters
With temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in summer and below minus 40 degrees Celsius in winter, it would seem a strange place to build a capital city.

Central Asia War Seen As Battle Over Drugs

  • 15 September 00
  • Reuters
A war that claimed nine more lives this week in remote Central Asia has more to do with the drug trade than Islamic militancy.

Logic of Costly Oil Pipelines Knocked

Diamond Output Planned to Double

NEWS ANALYSIS: Putin Uses Foreign Travel To Seek Markets for Gas

Oil Firms Not Afraid Of OPEC Conference

Company May Retract Offer to Build Pipeline



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