A U.S. official has called on Kazakhstan to fulfill its obligations before it assumes the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

As an international organization that, among other things, promotes human rights, transparent elections, and the rule of law, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is taking quite a gamble by entrusting the chairmanship to a country that is taking steps away from -- rather than ...

The Moscow-based human rights organization Memorial says that a Kyrgyz citizen seeking political asylum was extradited by Russian officials to Kyrgyzstan this week, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Russian PM Putin arrives in Beijing for two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. Agreements on energy and trade are expected, but talks will also touch international politics, Iran, North Korea and the global financial crisis.

A law has come into force in Kazakhstan banning smoking in public places, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

A recommendation that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev become the country's president-for-life is being publicized by the President's Office

Viktor Kovtunovsky staged a public action on September 9 in support of the director of the nongovernmental group Kazakh Bureau for Human Rights, Yevgeny Zhovtis.

Without any set agenda, there was little information emerging from an informal summit of Caspian littoral leaders in Kazakhstan and it was unclear whether any formal conclusions were expected

There seems to be an unusual sense of urgency on the part of some of the leaders who will be in Aktau

Last week, Yevgenyy Zhovtis, the director of the Kazakh nongovernmental organization Bureau on Human Rights, was sentenced to four years in jail for his role in a fatal traffic accident