Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
Gazprom Playing With Poor Options on South Stream in the Black Sea
On February 17 in Bucharest, Gazprom Vice-President Aleksandr Medvedev conferred with Romanian officials on a range of bilateral projects. Medvedev hinted at possible Romanian participation in Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline project, from Russia to Europe via the Black Sea. On the previous day in Sofia,... MORE
Bulgarian Government Skeptical on South Stream Project
Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller held talks in Sofia on February 16 “to activate work on the South Stream project in Bulgaria” (Interfax, February 16). Bulgaria is the country most pivotal to South Stream. The pipeline is planned to run from Russia across the Black Sea... MORE
European Proposal on Tactical Nuclear Weapons Highlights Russian Nuclear Dilemmas
As the negotiations on a bilateral arms control treaty lumber towards conclusion, the issue of tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) in Europe has regained prominence. Recently Germany, Norway, Poland, and Sweden have individually proposed that both Russia and the US eliminate their TNW from Europe or... MORE
Russia Struggles to Establish a Viable Military Base in Abkhazia
This week, the Abkhaz separatist leader, Sergei Bagapsh, arrived in Moscow to sign a number of deals with President Dmitry Medvedev on military, logistical, financial and economic cooperation. The Russian military have been officially allowed to establish a permanent “unified military base” in Abkhazia for... MORE
Ukraine: Largest Ailing Bank Nadra Remains in Limbo
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has rejected the government plan to liquidate Nadra, the largest among Ukraine’s ailing banks. The only potential investor interested in Nadra, energy and chemical tycoon Dmytro Firtash, failed to persuade the NBU to sell Nadra. Nadra remains in limbo... MORE
Nord Stream: a Project Behind the Times (Commentary)
The Nord Stream project is based on assumptions dating back to 2005 and earlier, but failing to reflect more recent developments, including those that are now revolutionizing the gas trade.When Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schroeder (Russian President and German Chancellor respectively at the time) concluded... MORE
Nord Stream Project Faces Hard Slog Against the Tide
Nord Stream, the gas pipeline project on the Baltic seabed from Russia to Germany, has cleared the final legal requirement, obtaining the construction permit from the state administration agency of the Southern Finland region (Financial Times Deutschland, February 15).The governments of Finland, Denmark, and Sweden... MORE
Turkmenistan’s Naval Plans: Promoting its Maritime and Energy Interests
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has approved a program to create naval forces under the jurisdiction of the defense ministry, and will be deployed at the Turkmenbashi Caspian Sea port by 2015. The approval was announced at a meeting of the National Security Committee on January... MORE
Yushchenko Facilitates Yanukovych’s Election and Buries the Orange Revolution
Two major myths promoted by President Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine’s 2010 presidential elections were that there was no difference in policies between the two main candidates, Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko, and that both were “pro-Russian.” These myths helped defeat Tymoshenko by 3 percent in... MORE
Kadyrov and Rights Activists Struggle to Find Common Ground Amid Killings of Civilians
On February 15, a court in Moscow dropped the case against the liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta brought by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. The Chechen leader had appealed to the court to prosecute the paper and several well-known Russian human rights activists on defamation charges, but... MORE