Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
PUTIN SEEKS TO REAFFIRM CONTROL OVER DISGRUNTLED SILOVIKI
The colorful notion of the siloviki – power-wielders or men-of-power – that just a year ago seemed to convey an essential characteristic of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, has all but disappeared from Russian political discourse. With the surprise mid-December nomination of Dmitry Medvedev as... MORE
KREMLIN MOUTHPIECE TO LEAVE GENERAL STAFF
When Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov met their U.S. counterparts, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in Moscow March 17-18, one important person was absent – Russia’s top military commander, First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief... MORE
TURKISH CHIEF OF STAFF RULES OUT TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM CYPRUS
On March 29 Turkish Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit dismissed suggestions that the recent agreement to resume negotiations to reunify Cyprus would lead to the withdrawal of the estimated 35,000 Turkish troops deployed in the north of the island. On March 21 newly elected... MORE
MORTGAGING UKRAINE’S FUTURE SECURITY TO PAST STEREOTYPES ABOUT NATO?
Russian President-elect Dmitry Medvedev is citing low popular support for NATO membership in Ukraine as his argument against NATO approval of a Ukrainian Membership Action Plan (MAP) at NATO’s April 2-4 summit (Interfax, Financial Times, March 26). This thesis is common to the Russian and... MORE
WILL ROLE OF PARTY LEADER HELP PUTIN HOLD HIS OWN IN THE RULING DIARCHY?
Two Russian newspapers, Nezavisimaya gazeta and Moskovsky korrespondent, reported today, March 28, that Vladimir Putin will be named head of United Russia at a party congress that will be held in April. Noting that Putin used the occasion of a United Russia congress last October... MORE
KYRGYZSTAN REVEALS MORE RUSSIAN MILITARY FACILITIES
It is hardly a secret that Russia has been unhappy with the U.S. military presence in Central Asia, which was established in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Kremlin’s favored instrument for attempting to dislodge the Pentagon’s presence has been the Shanghai Cooperation... MORE
POLARIZATION DEEPENING AHEAD OF CONSTITUTIONAL COURT’S PRELIMINARY DECISION IN AKP CLOSURE CASE
The deepening political and social polarization triggered by the attempts by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to change the Turkish constitution to lift the headscarf ban in universities (see EDM, February 11) currently shows no sign of abating ahead of the expected Constitutional... MORE
HISTORIANS DEBATE 1918 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN BELARUS
On March 25, opposition demonstrators marked the 90th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the Belarusian National (People’s) Republic (BNR). The crowd was estimated at several thousand and refused to be confined to the officially sanctioned route from the National Academy of Sciences to... MORE
SBU ACCUSED OF PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES IN KHARKIV
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has become embroiled in a new scandal. The main opposition force, the Party of Regions (PRU), has accused the SBU of playing political games after SBU servicemen carried out a controversial search at the Kharkiv City Council. Although the... MORE
KYRGYZSTAN MARKS THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF TULIP REVOLUTION, BUT WITHOUT BAKIYEV
On Monday, March 24, Kyrgyzstan officially celebrated the third anniversary of the Tulip Revolution. While the day is officially commemorated as a national holiday, for the majority of the public it merely marks the change of political regimes, from one corrupt leader – former president... MORE