Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
GAZPROM SET TO POUNCE ON SERBIA AS PUTIN MOVES INTO THE BALKANS
Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to visit Bulgaria on January 18 for the signing of a Russian-Greek-Bulgarian agreement to build the South Stream gas pipeline. A joint project of Gazprom and Italy’s ENI, the line would run from Russia across the seabed of the Black... MORE
GEORGIA: OPPOSITION THREATENS TO OVERTURN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AMID GROWING INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE RESULTS
On January 8 the runner-up presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze (with 27% of the votes cast, according to the provisional final returns) headed a group of opposition leaders that burst into Central Electoral Commission (CEC) offices and encircled CEC chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili. They threatened to evict... MORE
TURKISH MEDIA HAIL GUL’S VISIT AS CONSOLIDATING NEW ERA IN U.S.-TURKISH TIES BUT UNCERTAINTY REMAINS ABOUT ITS LONGEVITY
The Turkish media have hailed the five-day visit of President Abdullah Gul to the United States as consolidating a new era in ties between the two countries. But some commentators remain uncertain about how long-lived the new rapprochement is likely to be. Reports of Gul’s... MORE
MOSCOW RAISES STAKES IN IRAN GAME
In the last days of 2007, Moscow made several purposeful steps that barely registered in the West, where the Christmas break was already well underway. The first step was the delivery of fuel elements to the nearly completed nuclear power station in Bushehr, which could... MORE
YUSHCHENKO PICKS CHIEF SECURITY ADVISER FROM OPPOSITION CAMP
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has appointed Raisa Bohatyryova as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC). This came as a surprise for many, as Bohatyryova has been one of the leaders of the main opposition force, the Party of Regions (PRU), which is... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN “TRUSTS” RUSSIAN BORDER GUARDS
On December 29 border guards in East Kazakhstan arrested four people -- two citizens of Uzbekistan, one citizen of Russia, and one citizen of Tajikistan -- for allegedly attempting to smuggle 17 kilograms of heroin into Russia. Seizures of heroin bound for Russia are a... MORE
AKP HEDGES ON KEY EU REFORM AS PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR ACCESSION CONTINUES TO FALL
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has announced plans to amend the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, that provides for custodial sentences for anyone who insults “Turkishness.” The EU has repeatedly cited Article 301 as evidence of Turkey’s failure to... MORE
INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS ASSESS GEORGIA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION POSITIVELY
International observers’ assessment of Georgia’s January 5 presidential election is substantially positive. More than 1,000 international observers, long-term and short-term, were on hand. This is almost certainly an all-time high ratio to a country’s population for any election in former Soviet-ruled countries. The Georgian government... MORE
OPPOSITION REJECTS WESTERN OBSERVERS’ ASSESSMENT OF GEORGIA’S ELECTION
Mikheil Saakashvili seems set to narrowly win reelection as president of Georgia in the January 5 balloting. With the votes from 2,780 of the country ’s 3,511 precincts counted, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) reported at 12 noon GMT on January 7 that Saakashvili has... MORE
BELKOVSKY PREDICTS MEDVEDEV WILL TIGHTEN THE SCREWS
Just before New Year’s, Stanislav Belkovsky, head of the National Strategy Institute, gave an interview in which he repeated for a third time his claim that Vladimir Putin is a multi-billionaire and said that Dmitry Medvedev was chosen to succeed Putin in order to complete... MORE