Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
TRANS-BLACK SEA PIPELINE CAN BRING CASPIAN GAS TO EUROPE
A New York-based consortium of several independent parties is completing the pre-feasibility study for a Georgia-Ukraine-European Union (GUEU) gas pipeline project. Led by the London-based Pipeline Systems Engineering (PSE) and the New-York-based Radon-Ishizumi consulting and engineering firms, the project envisages bringing Caspian gas to EU... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN AND TURKEY SPEARHEAD INTEGRATION OF TURKIC NATIONS
At least three people died and dozens of Turkish and Kazakh workers were badly injured when a fight erupted at a construction firm in Atyrau (West Kazakhstan) on October 20. The firm holds a contract with Chevron, and the incident has re-ignited public anger against... MORE
RUSSIAN MASS MEDIA SHAPE PUBLIC OPINION IN KYRGYZSTAN
Last week Murat Zhurayev, a Kyrgyz parliamentarian from Batken, supported the idea of Kyrgyzstan entering the ruble zone. He thus joined the ranks of Kyrgyz politicians who advocate moving deeper into Russia’s orbit (24.kg, December 2). Given the ongoing economic crisis and political instability in... MORE
THE POLONIUM TRAIL LEADS TO MOSCOW
Officials investigating the lethal poisoning of former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Alexander Litvinenko in London have widened their inquiry to Moscow. U.K. Home Secretary John Reid told reporters, "British police will be going to Russia to continue their inquiries," and he vowed that... MORE
LUKASHENKA OPTS FOR NUCLEAR POWER
Belarus, the Soviet republic most heavily affected by fallout from the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl, has decided to develop its own nuclear power industry. On December 1, Mikhail Myasnikovich, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences, made the announcement at a meeting concerning the... MORE
YUSHCHENKO LOSING KEY MINISTERS
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has lost at least two of the four ministers who remained loyal to him while working in Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's cabinet. Parliament, which is dominated by the Anti-Crisis Coalition (AKK) -- consisting of Yanukovych's Party of Regions (PRU), the Communists,... MORE
OSCE: END OF YEAR BRINGS END OF ROAD AS SECURITY ACTOR
The OSCE’s year-end conference, which opened on December 4 in Brussels, foundered again as it has every year since 2001 on the main unresolved European security problem: Russian forces in Georgia and Moldova and the related status of the treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe... MORE
RUSSIA SEES SCO AS POTENTIAL ENERGY CARTEL
Facing mounting Western accusations of aggressive behavior in the energy sector, Moscow is turning eastward in search of more friendly energy partners. One potential source is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Alexander Lukin, director of the Center of East Asian and SCO Studies of the... MORE
SURPRISE SUSPENSION OF PRIVATE TV IN AZERBAIJAN LEAVES MANY PUZZLED
At its regularly scheduled November 24 meeting, the National Radio and Television Council (NRTC) of Azerbaijan decided to suspend the broadcast license of ANS TV, the first private television station in the country, and its radio station ANS-CM. Council chairman Nushiravan Maharramli stated that the... MORE
RUSSIA IGNORES THE RIGA SUMMIT AND EXPECTS NATO TO FAIL IN AFGHANISTAN
Moscow was remarkably relaxed about the NATO summit held in Latvia’s capital, Riga, last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin even played with the idea of making an informal visit there for French President Jacques Chirac’s birthday party but abandoned it due to “other commitments” (Vremya... MORE