Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
JCC, “PEACEKEEPING” FORMATS IN SOUTH OSSETIA SHOWN TO BE UNTENABLE
An emergency session of the Joint Control Commission (JCC, overseeing the ceasefire in South Ossetia) was held on October 24-25 in Moscow. Convened ostensibly to overcome tensions in the wake of the September 20 demonstration of force by Russian-assisted Ossetian troops, the Moscow meeting merely... MORE
RUSSIA PRESSING FOR EXCLUSIONARY NAVAL GROUPING IN CASPIAN SEA
On October 24, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov briefed President Vladimir Putin on Lavrov's just-completed visit to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In the briefing's televised part, Lavrov reported on his effort to advance Moscow's proposal for a joint naval force of the Caspian Sea... MORE
GAZPROM’S ACQUISITION OF SIBNEFT SEEN AS DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
On October 17, Gazprom's Board of Directors approved the acquisition of a controlling share in Sibneft, Russia's fifth-largest oil producer. The deal is a major victory for the Kremlin, which in recent years has built an ever-expanding state-controlled energy giant. With shipments of some 550... MORE
ASSASSINATION OF KYRGYZ LAWMAKER REVEALS LINKS BETWEEN POLITICS AND CRIME
On October 20, Kyrgyz parliamentarian Tynychbek Akmatbayev died following a prison riot in the 31st penal colony located 20 kilometers away from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. He is the third lawmaker to be assassinated since the March 24 Tulip Revolution. Like the other two victims,... MORE
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RUSSIA-BELARUS UNION
On October 21, a draft version of the Constitutional Act of the Union State of Russia and Belarus was drawn up, based on two houses: a House of Representatives (103 members, including 28 from Belarus); and a House of the Union (36 senators and 36... MORE
GAZPROM LOSES ITALIAN DEAL, CORRUPTION COULD CAUSE MORE UPSETS
The deal signed in May this year between Gazprom and the Italian firm ENI was supposed to be path breaking: For the first time, the Russian energy giant would receive direct access to the gas distribution market in a major European country. It had the... MORE
YUSHCHENKO RE-AFFIRMS UKRAINE’S EURO-ATLANTIC GOALS
Last week President Viktor Yushchenko took steps to re-affirm Ukraine's desire for Euro-Atlantic integration. "Ukraine is a European country. I will never accept the idea that it is not," he told London's Royal Institute for International Affairs on October 17 (UPI, October 17). Western governments... MORE
RUSSIA IN CONTROL OF TURKMEN AND UKRAINIAN GAS TRADE
On October 20 in Ashgabat, Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov reassured the visiting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, on two counts: First, Turkmenistan will continue to under price the gas it sells to Russia; and, second, it would only sign a long-term gas... MORE
COUNCIL OF EUROPE ENVOY’S STRANGE VISIT TO LATVIA
Gyorgy Frunda, chairman of the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe's (CEPA) Parliamentary Assembly, paid a get-acquainted visit to Latvia on October 17-19 and caused political uproar in the country. Frunda, who is also one of the leaders of the Hungarian minority's party in... MORE
PRESIDENT ALIYEV SACKS KEY MINISTERS, CLAIMS COUP WAS IMMINENT
On October 19, Azerbaijani authorities announced they had successfully prevented a coup in the country. Authorities arrested two powerful and influential cabinet ministers -- Minister of Economic Development Farhad Aliyev (no relations to President Ilham Aliyev) and Minister of Health Ali Insanov. A third figure,... MORE