Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
EUROPEANS REMISS ON NABUCCO, ILLUSION-PRONE ON SOUTH STREAM
The European Union’s current presiding country, Slovenia, has decided to join Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline project, rival to the EU’s top-priority Nabucco project. The Slovenian government announced this decision in the third week of June, with less than two weeks remaining in its presidential term.... MORE
WILL PARLIAMENTARY CRISIS LEAD TO TYMOSHENKO’S DISMISSAL?
The coalition of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYT) and President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine--People’s Self-Defense (NUNS) no longer has a majority in the Ukrainian parliament. Two deputies quit the coalition, so it controls 225 seats in the 450-seat chamber, one seat short of a... MORE
TURKEY TO TAKE PART IN IRAQI OIL EXTRACTION
Along with five other nations, Turkey’s Turkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi (Turkish Petroleum Corporation--TPAO) has been included among state-owned countries that will be granted the right to extract oil in Iraq, according to Iraqi oil ministry official Asim Jihad. “We chose 35 companies of international standard,... MORE
A TRAP FOR MEDVEDEV IN THE TNK-BP CONFLICT
Political salons in Moscow are bubbling with rumors about President Dmitry Medvedev’s liberal agenda, but in a peculiar way, with Russia’s sports victories in ice hockey and football adding credibility to these expectations. Medvedev himself generates new hope daily, meeting tirelessly with all sorts of... MORE
THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN UKRAINE–RESURRECTING THE PAST
The Kremlin has once again raised the hoary issue of the rights of Russian language speakers in Ukraine, apparently as part of its campaign to make Russian the official lingua franca of the CIS and to apply more pressure on its neighbor during a time... MORE
AZERBAIJAN GEARS UP FOR THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Azerbaijani politicians and political parties are actively discussing amendments to the Election Code. These changes will lay a foundation for the conduct of elections from this year on. The parliament has discussed and approved these changes: henceforth, the campaign period for the presidential elections will... MORE
TURKEY’S GAMBLE BETWEEN IRAN AND THE UNITED STATES
On June 23 the European Union approved new sanctions against Iran, including freezing the assets of the country's biggest bank, Bank Melli, which is suspected of providing services to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and was blacklisted by the United States last year. The... MORE
CRITICS TARGET DECISION TO LET STABILIZATION FUND INVEST IN RUSSIAN SECURITIES
Last week President Dmitry Medvedev gave Russia’s Finance Ministry and Central Bank until October 1 to draft proposals on the investment strategy of the country’s Stabilization Fund. In February of this year, the fund, which was created in 2004 as a reserve to ensure that... MORE
HIGH-LEVEL NATO DELEGATION IN OUTREACH VISIT TO UKRAINE
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer headed a delegation of the North Atlantic Council (NAC), the alliance’s standing decision-making body in Brussels, comprising the 26 member countries’ ambassadors, on a visit to Ukraine on June 16 and 17. The visit was the first high-level... MORE
GAZPROM’S MOVE ON ABKHAZIA: MORE REASONS FOR GEORGIA TO BLOCK RUSSIA’S WTO ACCESSION
Russia’s Gazprom has announced its intention to launch exploration for oil and gas in Abkhazia on July 1, apparently offshore in the Black Sea. According to a notice just circulated by Gazprom’s board, the June 27 shareholders’ meeting will discuss plans by Gazprom, its subsidiary... MORE