Mike Collier in Riga
Mon, 16th Jan -- Ever since Latvia brought to an end in December its €7.5bn bailout loan from the IMF that helped avert bankruptcy, PM Dombrovskis has been trying to get across how optimistic he is about the country's prospects. But all the media want to talk about is a referendum that could make Russian the second official language alongside Latvian.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Mon, 19th Dec -- Investing into Russian equities is easy: in any year that is not a crisis year (13 out of the last 15) the minimum the Russian equity markets returns is 20%. So all the investor needs to do is ask: €will there be a major crisis this year?€ The trouble is if you get it wrong you stand to lose 75% of the value of your investment.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Tue, 20th Dec -- In the five years bne has been writing a Russia outlook report for the coming year, never have the prospects been so uncertain. The complications are multifarious, but can be split neatly into external and internal problems.

bne
Mon, 19th Dec -- What happens to Western Europe in the spring of 2012 is obviously key to the path that Russia will follow, but outside the scope of this report. All the banks have their own views, so we limit ourselves to reproducing an outline of four possible scenarios from PwC that covers the basics.

Ben Aris in Moscow
Mon, 19th Dec -- Despite the good news on Ukraine's macroeconomic front, analysts are almost universally pessimistic on the prospects for 2012 due to the increasingly political irresponsibility of the government.

Mike Collier in Tallinn
Mon, 19th Dec -- Exposed to the Eurozone like their fellow small, open and export-led economies in Central Europe, the bounce that the Baltics managed to put back in their step in the first half of 2011 is already fading.

Tim Gosling in Prague
Tue, 20th Dec -- Ignorance is bliss, so they say. That should make Central Europe the happiest place on the planet in 2012, because as governments, analysts and the wider population try to gauge the depth and impact of the building crisis in the Eurozone, it's clear no-one knows anything. Apart from the Hungarians of course, who know that everyone's out to get them.

Patrick Wrigley in Istanbul
Mon, 19th Dec -- Whether Turkey sinks into recession or not, 2012 is likely to be a much more somber year and the ruling AKP could face a rare test of its economic management credentials.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Mon, 19th Dec -- Kazakhstan is set to maintain steady economic growth of around 6% in 2012. The country is well prepared to weather a global economic slowdown, although its performance will depend on the impact of global events on commodity prices.

Clare Nuttall in Almaty
Mon, 19th Dec -- The Azeri government hopes that continued economic prosperity will stave off political discontent, while Armenia is preparing to hold parliamentary elections in May 2012.

Nicholas Watson in Prague
Mon, 19th Dec -- The big question for investors in Southeast Europe in 2012 is the same as that for anyone invested in the wider region: what will be the fallout from the mess in the Eurozone?

David O'Byrne in Istanbul
Fri, 16th Dec -- Greece has not, as has been reported, discussed the possibility of Turkey supplying electricity to its islands off the Turkish coast. But depending on Greece's ability to pull itself back from the brink of economic collapse, that politically fraught idea may yet be seen to make sound commercial sense.