Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
RUSSIA OFFERS GEORGIA A STICK AND A CARROT
On Sunday, April 20, an unarmed Georgian reconnaissance drone was shot down over the territory Abkhazia. The Georgian authorities alleged that a Russian Air Force MiG-29 fighter had downed the drone. The jet, according to Georgian radar data, took off from an airbase near Gudauta... MORE
THE FUTURE OF THE ORANGE COALITION WILL BE DECIDED IN MAY
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s April 14 speech to the Parliamentary Council of Europe (PACE), where she outlined her support for constitutional reforms that would transform Ukraine into a parliamentary republic modeled on Germany, is both a sign of the growing frustration inside the orange coalition... MORE
MOSCOW SEEKS TO ENGAGE MONGOLIA ECONOMICALLY
Moscow has renewed efforts to prop up economic ties with its closest Cold War era ally, Mongolia. The two neighboring nations appear, however, to remain divided by a variety of irritants. At a meeting in Moscow with Mongolian Prime Minister Sanjaa Bayar earlier in April,... MORE
TURKISH BANKS MAKE HUGE LOANS TO FRIEND OF ERDOGAN
On April 22, it was announced that two Turkish state-owned banks had stepped in to provide $750 million in loans to Calik Holding, which is owned by a close friend of Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan, in order to enable it to purchase the second largest... MORE
ILLARIONOV SAYS PUTIN BROUGHT ABOUT ECONOMIC GROWTH AND AUTOCRACY
Andrei Illarionov has always been something of an anomaly: an economist of a libertarian bent who always stressed the negative impact of state intervention while working as an adviser to several top officials associated with a corporatist or even authoritarian outlook. From 1993 to 1994... MORE
TYMOSHENKO CHOOSES PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has suffered a crashing defeat over his plan to change the constitution. Not only has it become clear that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will not support his plan to boost presidential powers, but she has sided with his eternal opponents, the... MORE
KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT VOTES TO PRIVATIZE KEY ECONOMIC SITES
On April 18 the Kyrgyz parliament voted to increase the government’s right to privatize public economic sites. The divide in the parliament on this legislative act was obvious: President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s party Ak Zhol voted in favor of privatization, while two opposition parties, the Kyrgyz... MORE
TURKEY SEEKS TO INCREASE TRADE WITH LATIN AMERICA
Until a decade ago, Turkey’s interest in the Western hemisphere was focused almost exclusively on its relationship with the United States. Over the past 10 years, however, Ankara has grown increasingly interested in Central and Latin America, even though its trade with the region is... MORE
CSTO LEADER MEETS WITH TAJIK OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS SECURITY, AFGHANISTAN
On April 14 Secretary-General Nikolay Bordyuzha of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) arrived in Dushanbe for talks with security and law enforcement officials in Tajikistan. His three-day working visit began with a meeting with Defense Minister Sherali Khayrulloyev, Secretary Amirqul Azimov of the Tajik... MORE
AN OPINION POLL IN BELARUS REVEALS SKEPTICISM AMONG THE PUBLIC
Belarus has attracted international attention recently for all the wrong reasons: attacks on demonstrators, arbitrary arrests, searches of apartments of independent journalists, and the refusal to release political prisoners, particularly Alyaksandr Kazulin, the former Rector of Belarusian State University. But how does the population view... MORE