Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
SAAKASHVILI CONVENES COMMISSION ON CONSEQUENCES OF WITHDRAWING FROM CIS
One consideration that may influence Georgia's planned departure from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is whether Tbilisi will find itself alone and vulnerable to retaliation by an angry Russia. So far, the Georgian government seems confident of its future prospects. Following the recent Russian... MORE
INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY ON ABKHAZIA RESUMES IN TBILISI AFTER LONG HIATUS
The Coordinating Council, an overarching format for Georgian-Abkhaz dialogue also known as the Geneva Process, reconvened on May 15 in Tbilisi after a five-year suspension. The resumed Council and Process are meant to discuss Georgian and Abkhaz plans for a political settlement and, on parallel... MORE
ARMENIAN SPEAKER OUSTED FROM RULING COALITION
Armenia's President Robert Kocharian has banished one of the three political parties represented in his government after it appeared to threaten his reported plans to hand over power to a staunch loyalist in 2008. The Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) party officially announced its withdrawal... MORE
REGIONS OF UKRAINE COMES BACK, TAKES UP LANGUAGE ISSUE
Though defeated in the Orange Revolution, regional elites scored a strong performance in Ukraine's March 26 general election, strengthening the position of their main party -- the Party of Regions (PRU) of former presidential contender Viktor Yanukovych. President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc emerged very... MORE
MOSCOW PRESSING FOR CFE TREATY RATIFICATION DESPITE ITS OWN NON-COMPLIANCE
Amid a deep secrecy that belies its democratic professions, the OSCE is preparing to hold a Conference to Review the Operation of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) in Vienna at the end of this month. Some West European chancelleries are seeking ways... MORE
PUTIN MARKS ZERO-SUM WIN WITH KARIMOV IN SOCHI
Uzbek President Islam Karimov's May 12 meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Sochi marks a further stage in Russia's successful exploitation of Uzbekistan's unnecessary alienation from the United States. The Putin-Karimov meeting was demonstratively timed to the anniversary of the violent suppression of... MORE
RUSSIA REMAINS KARIMOV’S BEST HOPE
Amid growing international isolation, Tashkent views an alliance with Moscow as its main -- if not last -- geopolitical hope. The regime ruling Uzbekistan appears so keen to forge closer ties with Russia that President Islam Karimov has seemingly offered Russian companies unprecedented access to... MORE
RUSSIA PLANS EXPANSION OF ITS MILITARY PRESENCE IN KYRGYZSTAN
The Russian military is set to expand its military presence in Kyrgyzstan later this year by increasing the number of Russian personnel at its airbase in Kant, near Bishkek. According to Colonel-General Vladimir Mikhailov, commander of the Russian air force, by the end of 2006... MORE
RUSSIA’S VIRTUAL MILITARY MIGHT SHIELD AGAINST U.S. CRITICISM
Russian President Vladimir Putin's address to parliament last week was perhaps less interesting in its "how-to-spend" content than in what was left out. The secrecy around the drafting of the speech had been tighter than around Stalin's war plans or Brezhnev's health bulletins, but observers... MORE
IS AN ECONOMIC CRISIS LOOMING IN BELARUS?
Reports circulated on May 12 that, three days earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree on fundamental changes in Russia's trade-economic and credit-financial policies toward Belarus. In turn, the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom reportedly plans a threefold rise in the price of gas... MORE