Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
RUSSIA, U.S., AND PAKISTAN SEEK DEEPER MILITARY TIES TO BISHKEK
On May 16 Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev met a senior Russian military delegation led by Army General Vladimir Isakov, the Russian deputy defense minister and head of the Rear Services. The Kyrgyz were keen to highlight that this was the highest Russian military delegation... MORE
POLICE OFFICERS MEET IN NALCHIK TO DISCUSS INSURGENCY OPTIONS
On May 8, a seminar on fighting crime was held in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, a North Caucasian republic. The seminar, “Modern Russian Society: Burning Issues of Fighting Crime,” was divided into four sections: terrorism; drug trafficking; historical, judicial, philosophic, and criminological aspects of... MORE
BALTIC SEABED GAS PIPELINE PROJECT: FAR FROM A DONE DEAL
Leaders of Estonia and Lithuania have publicly joined the growing ranks of critics and skeptics regarding Nordstream, the Russo-German Baltic seabed pipeline project for Russian gas. With Nordic countries along the proposed pipeline route raising environmental and security concerns, its commercial rationale increasingly questioned, and... MORE
UKRAINE’S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT UNDER PRESSURE
On May 21, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CC) closed proceedings related to President Viktor Yushchenko’s April 2 decree to disband parliament. This was a pure formality, as Yushchenko had on April 26 invalidated his own decree by issuing another decree disbanding parliament and rescheduling... MORE
“POLITICAL TOURISM” AND MANAGED CIVIL SOCIETY IN UKRAINE
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s experts on Ukraine have pointed out that the ongoing “blue Maidan” demonstrations in downtown Kyiv’s Independence Square are incompatible with democracy. Although the Maidan-2007 demonstrations are taking place in the same location as those staged by the... MORE
RUSSIA-EU SUMMIT BRINGS MORE MISUNDERSTANDING AND MISTRUST
The only undisputable fact about the Russia-EU summit in Samara on May 18 was that it actually took place; whether that constitutes a positive result is open to interpretation. Even Russia’s demonstratively self-confident President Vladimir Putin hardly finds much satisfaction in the mutual understanding that... MORE
NAZARBAYEV GETS PARLIAMENTARY BACKING TO PERPETUATE HIS RULE
In a typical display of loyalty to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, on May 18 Kazakhstan’s parliament almost unanimously approved constitutional amendments proposed by the head of the state at a joint session of parliament only a day earlier. Addressing legislators on May 17, Nazarbayev had offered... MORE
GAZPROM TAKING OVER THE PIPELINES IN BELARUS
On May 18 in Minsk, Russia’s Gazprom and the Belarus government’s State Property Committee signed agreements to turn the Belarus state-owned gas pipeline company Beltransgaz into a Russia-Belarus joint company. Betransgaz handles both the transit of Russian gas to European Union countries and the internal... MORE
BERDIMUKHAMEDOV MOVES TO ELIMINATE RIVALS AFTER FOREIGN POLICY VICTORIES
Central Asia watchers were surprised by the May 16 announcement from Ashgabat that the chairman of Turkmenistan’s National Security Council, General Akmurad Redzhepov, was being transferred to “other,” unspecified duties. Redzhepov had been one of the late president Saparmurat Niyazov’s closest advisors, and many analysts... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN BALANCES RUSSIAN GAS DEAL WITH HOMEGROWN PROJECTS
As Kazakhstan agreed on a joint venture with Russia to process gas from the Karachaganak field at Gazprom's Orenburg gas-processing plant, the deal will allow Astana to avoid spending billions of dollars to build its own gas-processing facility. Nonetheless, in the immediate aftermath of the... MORE