11.   Tiny Azerbaijan is currently interviewing firms, even though the small republic has an embassy in Washington and limited resources.

12.   Other republics had no other choice than to follow the same path and join the CIS.

13.   Debate is heating up over the kind f president a new Australian republic might have.

14.   Each republic has its own government, and shares power in the federal government.

15.   Kornukov said Russia and other ex-Soviet republics have good air defenses, but the NATO air assaults suggested the need for increased measures, the reports said.

16.   Many former Soviet republics have had high rates of capital punishment, a legacy of their years as part of the Soviet Union.

17.   Of the Silk Road countries, the former Soviet republics have the most room for growth.

18.   Recent figures for those executed in Estonia were not immediately available, but the republic has a relatively low rate of grave crimes.

19.   Since the Soviet breakup, the new Central Asian republics have to varying degrees stuck to authoritarian-style rule.

20.   The Central Asian republic has also had to revise export revenue projections because of its reliance on oil sales to fund much of its spending.