Clare Nuttall in Almaty and Ben Aris in Moscow
Mon, 30th Jan -- After BTA Bank was taken over by the Kazakh state, the government made every effort to engage investors and run a transparent bailout process. However, some investors claim the rescue effort has become opaque as the assets become a pawn in political power struggles.

bne
Mon, 30th Jan -- Almost two months after the country's December 4 parliamentary elections, Slovenian politicians finally agreed on the composition of a new government on January 28. It is hoped it will have the strength and vision to restore the country's stumbling economic fortunes, exemplified by a two-notch downgrade from Fitch Ratings.

Andrew MacDowall in Belgrade
Mon, 30th Jan -- While Romanian demonstrators' grievances are familiar by now - swingeing public sector cuts, low salaries, tax increases, corruption, and the perception that President Traian Basescu and his administration are remote and authoritarian - potential solutions are considerably less clear.

bne
Fri, 27th Jan -- The multitude of Ukrainian businesspeople that reportedly pay through the nose for the benefits that a parliament seat offers are delighted to find that an upcoming rejig of the country's election system could cut the price by half.

Tim Gosling in Prague
Fri, 27th Jan -- Although registered in the US, Epam Systems has the bulk of its operations in the CIS, and Belarus in particular. That makes its forthcoming IPO - for which it provided an initial pricing guide on January 23 - an interesting test of investors' attitude to Alexander Lukashenko's troubled country.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Fri, 27th Jan -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is playing with fire by underestimating the burgeoning Russian protest movement, which "could lead to violence", Ilya Ponomarev, a leading member of the protest movement, tells bne in an exclusive interview.

Sandy Gill in Sofia
Fri, 27th Jan -- With shale gas a controversial topic in and beyond Europe, Bulgaria has made up its mind rather abruptly which side of the argument it's on - at least for now. So why an outright ban? Politics rather than statesmanship is the answer.

David O'Byrne and Nicholas Watson
Thu, 26th Jan -- The Russians, Turks and economic reality are killing the EU's gas pipe dream.

bne
Thu, 26th Jan -- As the country attempts to mend the damage to its international image, Kazakhstan's investigation into the violence that erupted in December in the town of Zhanaozen is to put individuals from amongst both the rioters and the authorities on trial.

John Casey of HSBC
Thu, 26th Jan -- While the economic picture remains gloomy in Europe, international trade is a key driver of Europe's success story in the future.

Mike Collier in Riga
Wed, 25th Jan -- German retailer REWE formally submitted a complaint to the European Commission over Latvia's insolvency laws, which saw Palink declared insolvent in a Riga court at the initiative of an individual named Sergei Gushkin, who is involved in a €30,000 dispute with Palink over a construction project.

Thomas Escritt in Budapest
Wed, 25th Jan -- A head-strong government in Hungary that is nervously eyeing its dwindling popularity in the polls may well decide in the end that the gamble of going it alone is a better bet than the austerity that could carry on for another four years.