
Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

Ahmet Davutoglu: The Man behind Turkey’s Assertive Foreign Policy
Ambassador Ahmet Davutoglu, the chief foreign policy advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, visited Washington, March 17-21, to discuss critical developments in the Middle East before President Obama's visit to Turkey on April 6-7. During his visit Davutoglu stated that "The U.S. and... MORE

The Strange Ties between Semion Mogilevich and Vladimir Putin
On March 23, 2009 the Moscow City Court ruled that Semion Mogilevich, also known as Sergiy Shneider, will remain in prison until May 23 while investigators continue to examine his case. (Kommersant Daily, March 24). This is the third extension of his detention the court... MORE

Lukashenka Lashes Out at Opposition
As negotiations continue between the EU and Belarus with the prospect of the latter joining the Eastern Partnership, the Belarusian opposition has formulated its own conditions for any future agreement. In turn, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has branded his opponents a "fifth column" and seeks to... MORE

Russia Moving From Conflict-Solving To Conquest-Guaranteeing in Transnistria
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's March 18 meeting with Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and Transnistria leader Igor Smirnov (EDM, March 20) was designed to mark a qualitatively new stage in the long-running negotiations on the Transnistria conflict. While continuing to block the conflict resolution negotiations, Russia... MORE

Gul’s Visit to Baghdad: A Sign of Rapprochement With The Kurds?
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul arrived in Iraq on March 23, becoming the first Turkish president to visit the country in 33 years, where he was warmly welcomed by Iraq's President Jalal Talabani. Gul's visit to Iraq was originally scheduled for December 20, 2008 but a... MORE

Can the Far-Right and Liberal Hopefuls Challenge Ukraine’s Leaders?
Recent opinion polls and a local election on March 16 have shown that two stars are rising in Ukrainian politics. The time remaining until the January 2010 presidential election should show whether the two, far-right Oleg Tyahnybok and liberal economist Arseny Yatsenyuk, will prove viable... MORE

Medvedev Plays Anti-Western Card to Promote Military Reform
On March 17 Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev addressed a session of the Ministry of Defense board in order to outline a large-scale rearmament program which will commence in 2011, designed to give the Russian armed forces a "new look" Medvedev used the occasion to pointedly... MORE

One Festival, Two Celebrations: Novruz Highlights Political Tensions in Turkey
Novruz, marking the arrival of spring and beginning of a new year, is being celebrated in Turkey between March 20 and 24, along with other Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries. This year's celebrations in Turkey showed that this cultural event still remains highly contested... MORE

Russian Energy Companies Expand Their Operations in Central Europe
Russian energy companies have intensified their efforts to boost their presence in Central Europe, giving cause for concern that Moscow plans to continue using energy as a foreign policy tool to tighten its grip over the region. Just prior to the last energy crisis in... MORE

Medvedev Fingers the ‘Reset Button’ but Preaches Anti-Americanism
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev received last Friday the Russian-American Public Dialogue Group co-chaired by Henry Kissinger and Yevgeny Primakov and confirmed that he was looking forward to the first meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama and expected "a real exchange of opinions regarding all issues"... MORE