Russia’s Surveillance State

In this study, Turkey is compared to the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries with regard to the population trends by means of data from HDI Report developed by UNDP. Population trends include total population, population annual growth, urban population, median age, total dependency rate, total fertility rate in HDI. The data indicates that the rate of median age in Turkey is lower than CEE countries and many of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in 2010. Moreover, the rate of total fertility is higher in CIS countries than in the CEE countries in 2012. The rate of annual growth of population is lower in CEE countries than in the CIS countries in the period of 2000/2005 and 2010/2015. Only Turkey has tendency to reduce the rate of annual growth of population among CIS countries. Total dependency rate is higher in CIS countries (%46) than in the CEE countries (%44) in 2012. With %46.8 an overall dependency rate Turkey is located in the middle range among CIS countries. Urban population rate (% of total) is lower in CIS countries (%54, 69) than in CEE countries (%61.45) in 2012. Tajikistan has the lowest urban population rate among the CIS and CEE countries. Turkey’s (%72, 5) urban population rate is located in one of the top positions among CIS and CEE countries.

The main objective of this research is to determine and evaluate the dimensions of educational development in Turkey in comparison with the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. For this purpose, in this study, Turkey is compared to the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries with regard to the educational development and conditions. In this study, carried out through comparative relation scanning model and literature model, the sample group was established the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries with Turkey. The research data was collected by means of data from HDI Report developed by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). On the base of data obtained from report, the study concluded that the lowest rate of adult literacy and population with at least secondary education belongs to Turkey. The rate of enrolment in primary education, however, is higher in Turkey than most of the CEE and CIS countries. This affirmative data can be attributed to the high rate of young population and/or education campaigns in Turkey since the lowest rate of secondary education and the highest level of primary school dropout rate is also seen in Turkey. In addition, performance of 15-year old students in reading, mathematics and science is generally lower in Turkey, CEE and CIS countries than in OECD countries.

The main objective of this research is to determine and evaluate the multidimensional poverty and human development in Turkey in comparison with the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries which is called Transition Economies. For this purpose, in this study, human development and multidimensional poverty in Turkey were examined in comparison with the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. In this study, carried out through comparative relation scanning model and literature model, the sample group was established the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries with Turkey. The research data was collected through Human Development Index (HDI) and Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) developed by UNDP. The findings from this study revealed that CEE countries which are the member of EU have higher human development rate than EU candidate countries and CIS countries. In addition, Turkey has the highest rate of GNI per capita and poverty as well as the lowest education index in comparison with the other EU candidate countries. In this study, these results is tried to be analyzed in the lights of index data and potential effects of the existing differences between countries.

Despite the importance of geographical and product diversification of exports, this question has not got enough attention in the literature. We look at country and product diversification of exports from Eastern Europe (EE) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), two groups of countries that both substantially increased trade openness since the beginning of transition, but took different paths in terms of product and geographical composition of exports, and compare with the export diversification predicted by the gravity equation estimated on a large sample of countries in 2001–2007. The results demonstrate substantial deviations of the actual diversification levels from the levels predicted by the gravity model for the CIS countries, while the EE countries' levels of diversification are much closer to the levels predicted by the model and consistent with the data. All CIS countries lag behind the region leaders – Czech Republic and Poland – in terms of the degree of export diversification. In particular, the CIS countries extensively engaged in the export of raw materials have the most concentrated exports in terms of their product composition. In terms of geographical diversification, Belarus has the least diversified exports among all transition countries.

This chapter reviews the practices of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries with respect to protecting investors' (both shareholders' and creditors') rights when a company is engaged in acquisitions or disposals of a substantial amount of assets (major, or extraordinary, transactions) and self-dealing and other conflict-of-interest situations (related-party transactions). It examines some of the most common abuses of investors' rights and practical problems in the relevant area in the CIS countries, how these special circumstances are regulated from the perspective of investor protection. Finally, the chapter discusses the regulatory solutions proposed by the Model Legislative Provisions on Investor Protection (MLPIP) to deal with identified problems of investor protection in special circumstances and why these may work for these emerging (transition) economies in the CIS countries. Keywords: Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries; extraordinary transactions; investor protection; MLPIP; related-party transactions

The aim of this study is to review the literature in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries with regard to their response to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Package of Essential Non-communicable (PEN) disease interventions for primary health care. NCDs are estimated to account from 62% to 92% of total deaths in CIS countries. Current management of NCDs in CIS countries is focused on specialists and hospital care versus primary health care (PHC) as recommended by the WHO. This paper uses a scoping review of published and grey literature focusing on diabetes and hypertension in CIS countries. These two conditions are chosen as they represent a large burden in CIS countries and are included in the responses proposed by the WHO PEN. A total of 96 documents were identified and analysed with the results presented using the WHO Health System Building Blocks. Most of the publications identified focused on the service delivery (41) and human resources (20) components, while few addressed information and research (17), and only one publication was related to medical products. As for their disease of focus, most studies focused on hypertension (14) and much less on diabetes (3). The most studies came from Russia (18), followed by Ukraine (21) and then Kazakhstan (12). Only two countries Moldova and Kyrgyzstan have piloted the WHO PEN. Overall, the studies identified highlight the importance of the PHC system to better control and manage NCDs in CIS countries. However, these present only strategies versus concrete interventions. One of the main challenges is that NCD care at PHC in CIS countries continues to be predominantly provided by specialists in addition to focusing on treatment versus preventative services.

Purpose - This research investigates the impact of the informal economy on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. This work is the first study that has examined this issue in the case of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
 Design/Methodology/Approach - We use a fixed-effects regression model with a panel dataset of eight CIS countries spanning 14 years (2002~2015) to shed light on the role of the informal economy in CIS countries as one of the determinants of FDI.
 Findings - The results show that as the size of the informal economy increases, FDI inflows decrease, suggesting a new perspective on the informal economy’s impact on FDI, with the empirical evidence revealing a negative relationship between them in CIS countries. Based on the empirical results, it is evident that human capital, extrapolated from secondary school enrollment numbers, and openness to trade are the key components in attracting FDI to CIS countries.
 Research Implications - It is clear that the informal economy is a hindrance to attracting FDI, implying that potential foreign investors have concerns about the informal economic system because where their properties cannot be protected in a formal legal system. These results suggest that the governments of CIS countries should reduce the size of their informal economy to create an FDI-friendly environment.

Far from being uniform and amenable to broad generalizations, the consequences of the international economic crisis of 2008–10 for the post-communist states have been strikingly diverse, and the policy responses of these countries to those crises have been correspondingly varied. The 11 Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, and the 10 post-communist states admitted into the EU in 2004 or 2007, were affected in different ways by the economic crisis and offered different responses to it. These widely differing impacts and responses can be satisfactorily explained and conceptualized in terms of relatively concrete and tangible differences in the structures of power, resources, opportunities, incentives and constraints that have emerged in these two broad groupings of countries. The economic systems that have emerged in most of the CIS countries have diverged substantially from those of the post-communist states that joined the EU, with significant cautionary implications for future attempts to integrate or associate CIS countries with the EU.

Payments problems constrained interstate trade among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries in 1992-95, especially during the prolonged demise of the ruble zone. Two kinds of solutions should be sought: 1) more effective stabilization measures to improve the prospects of currency convertibility among CIS countries; and 2) strengthening of institutional arrangements to permit payments and settlements through correspondent bank accounts. Strengthening institutions will require not only strengthening commercial banks but liberalizing foreign exchange markets and promoting the use of letters of credit and other mechanisms to increase the security of trade transactions. A multilateral clearing arrangement operated among central banks would have been a useful alternative to the chaotic payments prevailing earlier, but such arrangements are no longer needed as considerable progress has been made toward convertibility. Nor is a payments union desirable. Trade deficits are likely to persist in such countries as Belarus and Ukraine. Surplus countries such as Russia and Turkmenistan must develop transparent means of trade financing that take into account the recipient countries' ability to pay. External financing will remain important for practically all CIS countries. The best way to mobilize private financing will be to establish macroeconomic stability and stable, transparent rules on private capital inflows. Improving the flow of public resources requires improving countries' capacity to quickly absorb the large amounts already committed. Donors need to expedite procurement and other procedures and recipient countries must address governance problems and institutional weaknesses that delay disbursements. Certain smaller CIS countries face significant debt servicing problems and often the creditors are other CIS countries that themselves need additional financing. The smaller countries need debt relief on concessional terms, which is possible only if external assistance allows local creditors to offer such relief.

In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries the epidemiology of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is poorly characterized. The objective of this analysis is to present the prevalence, burden and risk factors associated with COPD in three CIS countries as part of the CORE study (Chronic Obstructive Respiratory Diseases), the rationale and design of which have been described elsewhere. A total of 2842 adults (≥18 years) were recruited (964 in Ukraine, Kiev, 945 in Kazakhstan, Almaty and 933 in Azerbaijan, Baku) between 2013 and 2015 during household visits. Two-step cluster randomization was used for the sampling strategy. All respondents were interviewed about respiratory symptoms, smoking status and medical history, and underwent spirometry with bronchodilator. COPD was defined as (i) “previously diagnosed” when the respondent reported that he/she had previously been diagnosed with COPD by a doctor, (ii) “diagnosed by spirometry” using the GOLD criteria (2011) based on spirometry conducted during the study (FEV1/FVC < 0.70), and (iii) “firstly diagnosed by spirometry”, when the patient had received the COPD diagnosis for the first time based on the spirometry results obtained in this study. The prevalence of “previously diagnosed” COPD was 10.4, 13.8 and 4.3 per 1000, and the prevalence of COPD “diagnosed by spirometry” was 31.9, 66.7 and 37.5 per 1000 in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan, respectively. Almost all respondents with COPD were diagnosed for the first time during this study. A statistically significant relationship was shown between smoking and COPD in Kazakhstan (odds ratio, OR: 3.75) and Azerbaijan (OR: 2.80); BMI in Ukraine (OR: 2.10); tuberculosis in Ukraine (OR: 32.3); and dusty work in Kazakhstan (OR: 2.30). Co-morbidities like cardiovascular diseases and a history of pneumonia occurred significantly (p < 0.05) more frequently in the COPD population compared to the non-COPD population across all participating countries. For hypertension, this was the case in Ukraine and Azerbaijan. In CIS countries (Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan), the prevalence of COPD “diagnosed by spirometry” was significantly higher than the prevalence of previously diagnosed COPD. Compared to many other countries, the prevalence of COPD seems to be relatively low in CIS countries. Factors such as limited funding from the government; lack of COPD knowledge and the attitude within the population, and of primary care physicians; as well as low access to high-quality spirometry may play a role in this under-diagnosis of COPD. The information provided in this paper will be helpful for healthcare policy makers in CIS countries to instruct COPD management and prevention strategies and to allocate healthcare resources accordingly.

This paper presents dataset collected from social networks that are mostly used by youth of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The data was collected from public accounts of VKontakte social network by using VK.api and applying the most used keywords that would signify depressive mood. The collected data was classified by psychologists into two types: depressive and non-depressive. The dataset consists of 32 018 depressive posts and 32 021 non-depressive posts. Since the most common language that is spoken in CIS countries is Russian, the posts are written in Russian, consequently the collected data is in Russian language as well. The data can mostly be useful for researchers who explore tendencies to depression in CIS countries. The dataset is important for the research community, as it was not only collected from open sources, but also marked by our psychiatrists from the republican scientific and practical center of mental health. Since the dataset has very high validity, it can be used for further research in the field of mental health.

This paper contributes to the empirical literature by investigating trade globalization and financial globalization as channels of inequality within South-East Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries from 1992 to 2007. In addition, the paper uses KOF (2010) index to measure the overall impact of globalization on income inequality in South-East Europe and the CIS countries. To overcome the limitations of the least squares dummy variables (LSDV) model, Parks method is used. The paper has two results. The first result is that both trade globalization and financial globalization deepen the income inequality within South-East Europe and the CIS countries. The second result is that the overall impact of globalization have adverse effect on inequality within South-East Europe and CIS countries from 1992 to 2007. These results support the hypothesis that globalization widens the income inequality within countries.

An overview of research on superconducting materials has been provided, including brief annotations of published papers and scientific cooperation among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. It is shown that fundamental research on superconducting materials is being funded for development and study more at the government level in each republic than from private funds or organizations. One of the most promising materials, as indicated by recent studies, are those synthesized from metal hydrides, particularly lanthanum hydride, which exhibits superconducting properties at 203–253 K, close to room temperature. Unfortunately, this type of material’s practical application is currently limited because of the extremely high pressure necessary during exploitation. The most promising direction, as inferred from research conducted in CIS countries, is the development of cuprate superconductors doped with rare-earth elements such as yttrium, lanthanum, and other metals. There are also iron–nitrogen junctions, metallic and organic superconductors, and research into improving technologies for producing ultrathin substrates using laser or plasma deposition methods. CIS countries have established a strong scientific foundation in superconductivity, with Russia leading fundamental and experimental advances in high- and low-temperature superconducting materials. Future research will likely focus on improving synthesis techniques for ultrathin superconducting films and exploring novel doped hydride systems to achieve stable superconductivity near ambient temperatures.

This paper analyses the factors behind widespread policy failure to support science-industry linkages in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. We explain this failure as being due largely to uncritical application of conventional policy wisdoms in the context of ‘catching up’ and ‘laggard’ economies. Our argument is based on evidence on knowledge-intensive enterprises in CEE and CIS countries and analysis of the innovation policies of these regions. Our conclusion is that support for science-industry linkages in CEE/CIS should be balanced by efforts to strengthen the ‘actors’ involved (existing large and small firms, universities and public research organizations) and reinforce other linkages in the respective national innovation systems, and especially knowledge links between domestic and foreign firms.

Objective:The present work was led by a multidisciplinary panel of experts and proposes an extensive review on the use of prescription crystalline glucosamine sulfate (pCGS) in the multimodal treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) applicable in Ukraine and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.Methods:A panel of rheumatologists, orthopedic surgeons, and field experts from Ukraine and CIS regions discussed the management of OA. Literature was systematically searched using Medline, EMBASE, CIHNAL, and Cochrane Library databases. The 2-day meeting critically reviewed the available literature, treatment algorithms, pharmacoeconomic aspects, and real-world instances to form a multimodal approach based both on real-life clinical practice and systematic literature research for the management of OA in Ukraine and CIS countries.Expert Opinion:pCGS plays a pivotal role in the stepwise approach to OA treatment. If it is necessary (step 1), the combined use of pCGS with paracetamol and topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been recommended. If symptoms persist, oral NSAIDs and intra-articular (IA) hyaluronic acid or corticosteroids are added to the therapy (step 2) of pCGS in the patients. In case of insufficient relief and severe OA (step 3), pCGS along with oral NSAIDs, IA corticosteroids, and duloxetine have been recommended. Patient stratification with regular monitoring and careful alterations in treatment were advocated.Conclusions:This expert opinion article recommends a modified approach to the existing guidelines incorporating pCGS in treatment modality of OA in Ukraine and CIS countries. Extensive use of pCGS targets early symptomatic relief in OA while limiting the adverse effects due to long-term use of analgesics and NSAIDs.