Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
DUSHANBE CLAIMS ANTI-DRUG SMUGGLING SUCCESS AS RUSSIA INCREASES MILITARY PRESENCE
Dushanbe's efforts to stem the flow of narcotics through its porous borders have been highlighted by the authorities in an attempt to reassert Tajikistan's domestic security credentials. Yet, despite these moves by the regime itself, security officials continue to seek international help for Tajikistan's security... MORE
BAM’S EFFECTIVENESS HINGES ON UKRAINE’S INTEGRITY
The success or failure of the European Union's first-ever Border Assistance Mission, now being launched on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border (see EDM, October 13) will depend on three highly uncertain factors: cooperation by the Ukrainian government, political consistency in Brussels and by EU diplomatic representatives in... MORE
WILL RE-PRIVATIZATION OF KYRGYZ MEDIA QUIET OPPOSITION VOICES?
On October 15, KOORT (Kyrgyz public radio and television) was re-privatized as a result of a legal investigation of the previous management on corruption charges. This news came shortly after the highly popular newspaper, Vecherny Bishkek, was returned to its previous owner, Alexander Kim, under... MORE
RUSSIA SHEDS NO TEARS OVER PEACE TREATY WITH JAPAN
As Russia has failed to secure any significant economic commitments from Tokyo, notably on the Japan-bound Pacific oil pipeline route, the Kremlin is losing interest in resolving a long-standing territorial dispute any time soon.Russia appears to have ruled out any compromise over the Kuril Islands,... MORE
PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE ASSASSINATED IN AFGHANISTAN
On Monday, September 27, Ashraf Ramazan, a prominent parliamentary candidate from Balkh, a northern province, was assassinated in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in broad daylight. One of his bodyguards was also killed, while another bodyguard and their driver were injured. Ramazan reportedly was running third... MORE
WAS IT MOSTLY IRAN THAT RICE DISCUSSED WITH LAVROV AND PUTIN IN MOSCOW?
The content and the outcome of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s “emergency” visit to Moscow last Friday and Saturday remain clouded by diplomatic smoke and mirrors. That overnight stay had certainly not been planned. After visiting three Central Asian states (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan)... MORE
SEPTEMBER CRISIS OVER, BUT STRATEGIC PROBLEMS REMAIN FOR YUSHCHENKO
President Viktor Yushchenko has declared that the political crisis in Ukraine is over. The turmoil began on September 5 with allegations of corruption within his inner circle (Channel 5 TV, October 6). Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, a close ally of Yushchenko’s, added that there are... MORE
WILL U.S. DEPORT FORMER SUMY GOVERNOR TO UKRAINE?
U.S. authorities have detained a prominent representative of Ukraine's old regime, former Sumy Region governor Volodymyr Shcherban, in Florida. Like disgraced former prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko in New York six years ago, Shcherban was detained on an immigration violation. Lazarenko had applied for political asylum.... MORE
RUSSIA, ARMENIA IN JOINT BID TO STAVE OFF ANOTHER EX-SOVIET REVOLUTION
The leaderships of Russia and Armenia have underscored their persisting concerns about the spread of anti-government uprisings across the former Soviet Union by holding a joint exercise of their special police forces. The extraordinary move comes less than two months before a tense constitutional referendum... MORE
MOSCOW SEES SU-27 CRASH AS OPPORTUNITY FOR NATO COOPERATION
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has seized on the SU-27 crash in Lithuania to reaffirm Moscow's proposal for joint airspace monitoring and civilian and military air traffic control by NATO and Russia over the Baltic states, through the aegis of the NATO-Russia Council (NAC). Russia's... MORE