Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
KYRGYZSTAN POISED FOR NEW POLITICAL TUMULT AS OPPOSITION PRESSES BAKIYEV
Kyrgyzstan’s For Reforms opposition bloc is convening a large-scale demonstration in the capital city, Bishkek, today, November 2, to demand fundamental changes in the work of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his government. The gathering might be as massive as those on April 29 and May... MORE
WILL UKRAINE JOIN WTO ANY TIME SOON?
Ukraine is an inch from joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), which President Viktor Yushchenko has proclaimed to be his strategic goal. This feat would be the only legacy of his first term, which expires in January 2010, at least regarding efforts to join Western... MORE
PUTIN TESTING UKRAINE’S POLITICAL SYSTEM WITH HIS BLACK SEA FLEET PROPOSAL
Official Kyiv seems divided in its initial response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to prolong the basing of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine’s Crimea. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is clearly not opposed to the idea while officials loyal to the president are firmly... MORE
PUTIN’S MILITARY NUMBERS JUST DON’T ADD UP
Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin held a well-staged national televised phone-in to answer rehearsed questions from selected citizens. Such phone-ins are performed in Russia once a year and provide an opportunity to state the Kremlin's position on different aspects of Russian political and bureaucratic... MORE
TBILISI BRACES FOR FALLOUT FROM RUSSIAN SANCTIONS
On October 23 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia “is not planning” to restore air, land, sea, postal, and banking communications with Georgia, which were cut October 3 in connection with a spy scandal (RIA-Novosti, October 23; EDM October 2, 4). Russia also... MORE
MOSCOW PRESSES FOR CFE TREATY RATIFICATION IN RUN-UP TO NATO AND OSCE SUMMITS
On his October 25-26 official visit to Moscow, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer successfully resisted demands by Russian officials for prompt ratification of the adapted Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) by NATO countries. Russia hopes to induce some governments in the alliance... MORE
FINALLY, PROGRESS ON KARABAKH PEACE TALKS?
Recent statements by Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian at the Armenian National Assembly have raised hopes in Azerbaijan that a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict is near. Specifically, Oskanian said, “We will discuss the return of all territories after the agreement on the status... MORE
ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SIGNALS PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS
Vartan Oskanian, a former U.S. citizen who has served as Armenia’s foreign minister since 1998, is increasingly signaling his intention to contest the presidential election of 2008. There is mounting speculation in Yerevan that it is he, rather than the powerful Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian,... MORE
PUTIN TAKES “LIFE-IS-GOOD” APPROACH WITH RUSSIAN PUBLIC
Last Wednesday, October 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual live call-in television show. For three hours he answered questions from 10 specially arranged locations, from Nakhodka, near Vladivostok in the Far East, to Baltiisk, near Kaliningrad. Public attention to this PR exercise was... MORE
HOW PUTIN MIGHT WIELD “INFLUENCE” AFTER 2008
The most-talked about part of President Vladimir Putin’s recent nationally televised call-in program was his answer to a question concerning his plans after his second term ends in 2008. “I have said: even though I like my work, the Constitution does not allow me to... MORE