Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
BALTIC SEA COUNTRIES’ SUMMIT FACES ENERGY SECURITY CHALLENGES
The Council of Baltic Sea Countries, the main cooperation forum of the Baltic’s nine riparian countries plus Norway, Iceland and the European Commission, held a summit at the prime-ministerial level on June 3 and 4 in Riga. Despite the ample advance notice for this event,... MORE
IS GAZPROM MANEUVERING TO OBTAIN ROMANIAN ALUMINUM?
Romania’s important aluminum industry has long held an attraction for Russian companies. Two years ago their efforts came to the attention of the Romanian Intelligence Service (Serviciului Român de Informaţii), the SRI, which viewed these initiatives with growing concern. A 2006 memo from the SRI... MORE
WASHINGTON AND MOSCOW VIE FOR TURKMENISTAN’S SUPPLIES
Since 1991 the Kremlin and Washington have sparred over the hydrocarbon riches of the Caspian, the world's greatest untapped regional deposits. While Azerbaijan is now firmly in the Western orbit, both Russia and America are vying for influence in Kazakhstan, but due to U.S. sanctions,... MORE
TURKISH MILITARY RALLIES BEHIND JUDICIARY IN HEADSCARF CASE
The Turkish military has been quick to endorse the June 5 ruling of the country’s Constitutional Court annulling the attempts by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to create a legal framework for lifting the ban that currently prevents women wearing headscarves from attending... MORE
SERDYUKOV ASSUMES FULL CONTROL OF THE DEFENSE MINISTRY
Russia's top general, First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Yuri Baluyevsky, has been moved to the Security Council, a body that in recent years has been a backwater stopover for ousted high-ranking Russian bureaucrats before final retirement.... MORE
RUSSIAN ADMIRAL GOES TO KYRGYZSTAN TO STRENGTHEN NAVAL COOPERATION
On May 29 and 30 Admiral Vladimir Vysotskiy, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, visited the Kyrgyz Republic in an effort to bolster military-technical cooperation and display a positive image of Russia’s naval strength. During talks with Kyrgyz officials, Vysotskiy secured agreement on the continued use... MORE
U.S. CITIZEN ARRESTED IN KYRGYZSTAN, RECEIVES UNFAIR TREATMENT
On May 30 the Kyrgyz police arrested a 25-year-old U.S. citizen, Max Chounlamany, a civilian employee at the Gansi U.S. Air Force base at the Manas airport in Bishkek. Chounlamany was accused of accidentally setting fire to an apartment he rented in Bishkek. The investigation... MORE
TURKISH PUBLIC PROSECUTOR CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGED COUP PLOT
Public Prosecutor Suleyman Aydin has called for an investigation into allegations of a 2004 plot to topple Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), according to a report in the Islamist daily Zaman (June 4). In March 2007 the weekly news magazine Nokta published what... MORE
EUROAPPEASEMENT: THE EU’S ANSWER TO RUSSIA’S ASSAULT ON GEORGIA
The European Union’s External Relations Council (known as GAERC, the EU’s policy making body at the level of ministers of foreign affairs) discussed Russia’s assault on Georgia in its latest monthly meeting in Brussels. Held on May 26 and 27, five days before Russia’s unlawful... MORE
POLL SHOWS RUSSIANS CONFIDENT ABOUT PRESENT, LESS SO ABOUT FUTURE
A survey conducted by Allianz SE, the giant financial service provider with headquarters in Munich, found Russians fairly confident about their country’s present and future as well as their current personal situations, but they are less confident about their personal future. The “confidence study” was... MORE