Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
RUSSIAN INFLUENCE ON THE UPSWING IN KYRGYZSTAN
On May 19, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev told a visiting group of international journalists that Kyrgyz authorities would go ahead with the plan to ask the United States to vacate the Manas air base by June 1 unless Washington agrees to a massive increase in rent... MORE
KYRGYZSTAN FIGHTS ONE-DAY WAR WITH UNKNOWN BANDITS
Early on the morning of May 12 an armed group of about 10 people attacked a Tajik border checkpoint in Isfara oblast. They seized weapons and killed three Tajik guards. A few hours later the group moved into Kyrgyzstan through Batken oblast and headed toward... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN BOOSTING CASPIAN SECURITY
Kazakhstan is boosting its Caspian security through the successful implementation of foreign military and security-assistance programs. These have helped Kazakhstan to develop its maritime border capabilities by providing military hardware, technical advice, and spare parts. Astana has included naval and border security packages into most... MORE
PUTIN’S FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION RESEMBLES MATRYOSHKA DOLL
The political buzz in Moscow in recent weeks has surrounded corruption, which, according to Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, "has acquired the character of a national threat" (Vremya novostei, May 16). No new data have emerged on the scale of this phenomenon, and in the latest... MORE
PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN RUSSIAN AND KAZAKHSTAN SEEN AS “RELIABLE”
Russia has secured renewed pledges of allegiance from Kazakhstan, its "most reliable partner" in Central Asia. Speaking after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia's southern Black Sea resort of Sochi on May 20, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said a strong Russia was important... MORE
RUSSIA’S RETENTION OF GUDAUTA BASE — AN UNFULFILLED CFE TREATY COMMITMENT
In the run-up to the Conference to Review the Operation of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE), Moscow is urging the 1999-adapted treaty's ratification despite its own non-compliance with its commitments. The continued functioning of its base at Gudauta in Georgia is one... MORE
BELARUS SEEKS TO EMULATE GERMAN-GAZPROM DEALS
President Alexander Lukashenka's government in Belarus is drawing inspiration from German companies' emergent model of relations with Russia's Gazprom, a model blessed by the German government as well and antithetical to market economics. On May 17, top officials of the Belarus government and the state... MORE
READING PUTIN’S MILITARY TEA LEAVES
Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual speech to the Federal Assembly on May 10 was notable for its emphasis on military affairs. Putin outlined new and increasing threats from the arms race, stated that terrorism and other conflicts were coming closer to Russia, and cited America's... MORE
ASTANA’S INTEGRATION DREAMS SUFFER SETBACKS
In an apparent bid to win acclaim by launching a regional integration initiative, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev used his February 2005 address to the nation to propose the creation of a union of Central Asian states on the basis of agreements on eternal friendship among... MORE
NEW ATTACKS FORCE KREMLIN TO LIFT INFORMATION BLOCKADE ON CHECHNYA
Yesterday, May 17, Russia's official news agency, Interfax, reported that a convoy of Russian troops had been ambushed near the Chechen village of Nikikhat. Official casualty figures listed five dead and six wounded. The news resembled reports that regularly came from Chechnya during the first... MORE