Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

Maksharip Aushev’s Murder Followed his Renewed Criticism of Status Quo
The longtime Ingush opposition leader and businessman Maksharip Aushev was shot to death in Kabardino-Balkaria yesterday (October 25). The incident took place around 9:30 a.m., local time, on a road near the village of Nartan in Kabardino-Balkaria’s Chegemsky district. The unidentified attackers fired more than... MORE

Kremlin Masterminds Mass Election Fraud
On October 11, the United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, won more than 7,000 local elections in 75 of its 83 regions. President Dmitry Medvedev hailed United Russia’s victory as showing that the party had a “legal and moral right” to run... MORE

Russia Joins the Samsun-Ceyhan Pipeline
On October 19, Turkey, Italy and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding on the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline (SCP). Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, the Italian Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola and the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, inked the agreement that regulates the commitments... MORE

Chechen Authorities Claim Suicide Bombing Cell Eliminated in Grozny
The head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Aleksandr Bastrykin, said yesterday (October 22) that the number of terrorist acts in the North Caucasus has increased by 57 percent this year. He told a meeting of the committee in St. Petersburg... MORE

Yevkurov Uses Traditional Ingush Clan Structures to Pacify the Republic
On October 13, Ingushetia.org reported that the President of Ingushetia Yunus-bek Yevkurov, had called on the Ingush clans, known as teips, to form a teip council. Citing the importance of the teips for Ingush society, President Yevkurov decided to recruit them to improve the security... MORE

The Shifting Strategic Priorities of the Russian Navy
Over the last two decades, the oceanic navy that Russia inherited from the Soviet Union has declined in size and quality. There were repeated calls from naval officers over the last decade for new construction and a revival of the navy. On Navy Day July... MORE

Samsun-Ceyhan Pipeline Project Designed to Divert Kazakhstani Oil
Russia and Turkey, with Italy in tow, have seemingly struck a grand oil and gas bargain in the Black Sea. On October 19 in Milan, government ministers and corporate officials from the three countries signed agreements to move ahead with the Russian South Stream gas... MORE

E.U. Comments on Ankara’s Policy in the South Caucasus
The European Commission has released its “2009 Progress Report” and “Enlargement Strategy Paper” in which it assessed developments in Turkey. The strategy paper stressed Ankara’s role in contributing to the stability of the Middle East and the South Caucasus. Turkey’s efforts toward the normalization of... MORE

Bakiyev Reshapes the Kyrgyz Government to Suit his Interests
The resignation of the Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov on October 19 and, consequently the entire government should not be confused with any attempt to reform the country’s political system. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has indeed promised to change the way Kyrgyzstan’s government functions in order... MORE

Kadyrov Again Declares Victory as Rebel Attacks Continue
Several terrorist attacks have been carried out in Ingushetia and Chechnya this week. Today (October 22), a bomb exploded as Isa Korigov, the head of the criminal police in the Ingush city of Malgobek, was getting into his car with his wife at their home... MORE