Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
RUSSIAN POLITICAL THINKERS JOIN THE DEBATE ON EUROPE
Irony and satisfaction – these are two emotions with which most Russian policymakers and analysts observe the acute identity crisis that the European Union currently finds itself in. Against the backdrop of the Commonwealth of Independent States' inglorious demise, the steady growth of the EU... MORE
POST-PUTIN RUSSIA: POLITICAL RUMBLINGS, POTENTIAL PRESIDENTS
Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Confounding skeptics who saw him as weak and isolated, President Vladimir Putin has succeeded in eliminating all serious, organized political challenges to his "vertical power structure." But new political forces are now surfacing and jostling to fill the political... MORE
UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES FILE CRIMINAL CHARGES OF SEPARATISM
On June 22-23 the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office finally introduced the first criminal charges of separatism against two eastern Ukrainian leaders: Viktor Tykhonov, head of the Luhansk oblast council, and Yevhen Kushnariov, the former governor of Kharkiv oblast. Both men opposed Viktor Yushchenko in the 2004... MORE
MOSCOW REFUSES TO RATIFY BORDER TREATY WITH ESTONIA
On June 20, a special session of the Estonian parliament ratified the Russia-Estonia treaty that defines the border between the two countries. Ministers of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov and Urmas Paet had signed the treaty on May 18 in Moscow after nearly a decade of... MORE
LARGE OPPOSITION RALLY SHATTERS NERVES OF AZERBAIJANI GOVERNMENT
Azerbaijani authorities have become seriously concerned about the success of the opposition rally held on Saturday, June 18, in Baku. More than 20,000 members of the election block "Azadliq" (Freedom), which unites the three largest opposition parties in the country -- Musavat, the Popular Front,... MORE
POPULAR SUPPORT INCREASES FOR DAGESTAN REBELS
May and early June brought intensified rebel attacks in Dagestan. On June 1, a bus carrying 20 policemen was bombed in Makhachkala, the capital (RIA-Novosti, June 1). Almost every night police patrols in the city are bombed, and the ambushes have recently spread to Khasavyurt.... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN’S INTELLIGENCE CHIEF CALLS FOR NEW APPROACH TO COUNTER TERRORISM
Vladimir Bozhko, first deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB), believes that the terrorist threat to Kazakhstan is real and growing. Highlighting the nature of that threat as it emerges within the country, he has called for a new approach to the whole issue... MORE
GEORGIAN GOVERNMENT DEBATES DIRECT ELECTION FOR MAYOR OF TBILISI
A political debate about the method of electing the mayor of Tbilisi, as well as talks about the appropriate strategy for the forthcoming by-elections to the Georgian parliament, has led to a rapprochement among several opposition groups. Currently consultations are underway between the opposition New... MORE
PEOPLE’S UNION-OUR UKRAINE MAKES SURPRISING CHOICE TO LEAD KYIV BRANCH
On June 18, President Viktor Yushchenko's new "party of power," People's Union-Our Ukraine (NS-NU), finally held its inaugural congress. Speculation had been rife that Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko would become head of the Kyiv branch of NS-NU, but that did not happen. The Kyiv branch... MORE
THIS YEAR, UKRAINE’S GAS WOES BEGIN EARLY
Ukraine's ability to pay for natural gas is already severely stressed on both the Russian and the Turkmen fronts. Ukraine's own, growing budget deficit has contributed to that stress. On June 20, Turkmenistan publicized the scolding administered that same day by President Saparmurat Niyazov to... MORE