Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
TURKMENISTAN DOUBLES NATURAL GAS PRICES TO IRAN
Nearly four months after a pricing dispute shut down Turkmen natural gas deliveries to Iran, the pipelines are again open. The bad news for Tehran is that the new price per thousand cubic meters (tcm) is nearly twice what it paid Ashgabat in 2007. On... MORE
IS TURKEY PLAYING A REGIONAL ROLE AT LAST?
Turkey has played down hopes that it would soon be able to broker a peace agreement between Syria and Israel. “We are still at the very beginning of the process,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on April 28. “Talks will continue to take place... MORE
EXPERTS DOUBT THAT RUSSIA’S POPULATION DECLINE CAN BE HALTED
Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova told her ministry on April 25 that over the past 15 months, Russia had experienced what she called “a real demographic explosion,” with more than two million children born between January 1, 2007, and April 1, 2008. Golikova... MORE
PUTIN PACKS HIS BAGS BUT MEDVEDEV STILL BIDES HIS TIME
Russia has effectively closed down for the long holidays as the Orthodox Easter comes close to May Day, which opens the traditional week of dacha spring works to be concluded by the always high-spirited celebrations of Victory Day. Coming back to business after this break,... MORE
YUSHCHENKO, TYMOSHENKO CLASH OVER PRIVATIZATION
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko have demonstrated that they would not stop short of open confrontation when big property is at stake. Yushchenko cancelled Tymoshenko’s orders to replace the head of the privatization body, the State Property Fund (FDM), and to... MORE
A DAZED AND CONFUSED AKP STRUGGLES TO STAVE OFF CLOSURE
On April 26 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had yet to formulate a strategy to counter the application for the party’s closure, which was filed by Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya with the Constitutional Court on... MORE
RUSSIA AND ITS ALLIES CONDUCT EURASIAN AIR DEFENSE DRILL
NATO’s eastwards expansion plan, articulated earlier this month at a summit in Bucharest, has firmed up Kremlin opposition to the alliance’s interest in former Soviet republics, particularly Georgia and the Ukraine, which over the last year has taken the form of military power projections beyond... MORE
CHERNOBYL DISASTER IS OFFICIALLY OVER
Approaching the 22nd anniversary of the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl plant in northern Ukraine, which will be commemorated in Belarus by the opposition with a march through Minsk on Sunday, two Belarusian scientists have firmly reiterated the official government position that irradiated territories no... MORE
KARIMOV, BAKIYEV REACT DIFFERENTLY TO NAZARBAYEV’S CENTRAL ASIA UNION
On April 22 Uzbek President Islam Karimov visited Astana to meet with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Both leaders agreed to boost bilateral economic cooperation by creating a common trade area at the borders. Karimov's harsh criticism of Nazarbayev's Central Asia Union (CAU), however, raised eyebrows... MORE
TURKEY LOOKS TO ENGAGEMENT RATHER THAN CONFRONTATION WITH IRAQI KURDS
On 24 April the Turkish National Security Council (NSC) implicitly confirmed recent indications of a shift in Turkish policy towards the Kurds of northern Iraq, in which confrontation and isolation will be replaced by engagement and dialogue. Since it relaunched its insurgency in June 2004,... MORE