Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
“PARTY OF THE THIRD TERM” MAY GET ITS WISH
State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said on April 1 that the lower house of parliament will be ready to confirm President-elect Dmitriy Medvedev’s announced candidate for the post of prime minister, outgoing President Vladimir Putin, on May 8 – that is, just one day after... MORE
BASBUG IN INDIA
As Turkey broadens its military and economic contacts eastwards, it is now deepening its ties with a growing Asian superpower, India. On March 31 Turkish Land Forces Commander Gen. Ilker Basbug arrived in New Delhi, India, to begin a five-day official visit. Basbug will be... MORE
EXTRANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS BLOCK GEORGIAN AND UKRAINIAN MAPS AT THE NATO SUMMIT
In on-the-record interventions and, especially, at off-the-record policy conferences, German officials laid out a whole collection of arguments against Membership Action Plans (MAPs) for Georgia and Ukraine at the upcoming NATO summit. Several West European governments share some of those arguments to one degree or... MORE
GEORGIA OFFERS FAR-REACHING AUTONOMY TO ABKHAZIA
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has proposed a reunification of Abkhazia with the rest of Georgia on terms of far-reaching autonomy and with the assistance of international guarantors (Civil Georgia, Rustavi 2 TV, March 28). All elements of a political settlement are to be placed on... MORE
KOSOVA ISSUE POINTS TO RUSSIAN SWAY OVER ASTANA
Recent developments in Kosova have become a litmus test for Central Asian states, indicating the degree of their independence from Moscow. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry hastened to issue a statement bluntly refusing to recognize the independence of Kosova from Serbia, while Uzbekistan remained conspicuously silent... MORE
TURKEY’S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AGREES TO HEAR AKP CLOSURE CASE
On March 31, Turkey’s Constitutional Court agreed to hear the case filed by Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya for the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). In the indictment filed with the court on March 14, Yalcinkaya had asked for the AKP to... MORE
PUTIN STILL POPULAR, BUT PEOPLE WANT POWER TO REMAIN IN THE KREMLIN
A new poll conducted by the independent Levada Center found that while most Russians continue to view President Vladimir Putin positively and are happy that he will continue on in government service as Dmitry Medvedev’s prime minister, they do not want Russia changed from a... MORE
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