...stations with a combined generating capacity of almost 8 gigawatts, both in Russia and other former Soviet countries.

It is expected to become one of the main blue chips representing th...

... a generation. Queues of cars were stretching up to ten kilometres on either side of the two former Soviet republics' common border, with delays according to Channel 5 television lasting as much as 24...

...med with loudspeakers, computer mice around their necks and banners equating the authorities to the Soviet KGB.

It is not surprising with the increase of attacks on media and free speec...

...on bodies.

Moldova was part of Romania from 1918 to 1940 until it was annexed by the Soviet Union. Moldova became independent in 1991 and the two countries share the same ethnic and lin...

...kun, a Belarus diplomat. In the briefest of all speeches, he repeatedly declared, “We all [ex-Soviet countries] have a lot in common,” a tentative overture though blurring the difference. ...

...gia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, was founded in 1997 to foster cooperation between the former Soviet states and promote closer ties with the West.

A fifth member, Uzbekistan, susp...

...ia to continue its operations.

Besides broadcasts in English and languages of the ex-Soviet countries, BBC still broadcasts in Europe in languages such as Albanian, Macedonian, Serbian ...

... same proportion of people who say they are ready to move --17 percent.

Other former Soviet republics show a wide variety of answers, both higher and lower than Russia.

H...

...r of NATO and Ukraine has staunchly supported joining the alliance. As with Georgia, another former Soviet republic, this has angered Moscow.

Russia would take any expansion of NATO int...

...he plan is vague, with details only to be worked out by March, 2009. Those countries are all former Soviet republics in which a resurgent Russia is vying to reassert its influence.

The ...