Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

PRO-PRESIDENTIAL PARTY DOMINATES ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN KAZAKHSTAN

The party-list segment of Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections, set for August 18, will be an uphill battle for opposition political forces in Kazakhstan. For all their irreconcilable differences and divergent policies, the assorted opposition contenders all must face the formidable, pro-presidential Nur Otan People’s Democratic Party.... MORE

RUSSIA LAUNCHES MASSIVE PROGRAM TO DEVELOP BLACK SEA PORTS

On July 11 Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and Transport Minister Igor Levitin unveiled a comprehensive modernization program for Russian Black Sea ports during an inspection visit there. The program is ambitious in both scale and pace, with most of its goals scheduled... MORE

YUSHCHENKO’S MULTI-VECTOR ELECTION STRATEGY

On July 4 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko called a high-level meeting of oligarchs, the third such gathering in his presidency. The first took place in October 2005 after Yuriy Yekhanurov replaced Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister (see EDM, October 28, 2005). Yushchenko has always maintained... MORE

KAZAKH-KYRGYZ ECONOMIC RELATIONS RECEIVE NEW BOOST

On July 11 Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov and Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev signed an agreement to establish a common investment fund that should increase economic assistance to Kyrgyzstan and boost relations between both countries. According to the agreement, Kazakhstan will invest $100 million,... MORE

MOSCOW RECONSIDERS ABANDONING CFE

In his annual address to the Russian Federal Assembly on April 26 President Vladimir Putin announced “a moratorium on Russia’s implementation of the CFE treaty until all NATO countries ratify it and start to strictly adhere to it” (see EDM, May 2). The Conventional Forces... MORE

MOSCOW DERAILS WESTERN POLICY ON KOSOVO

Russia has forced the United States and European Union to blink in the standoff over Kosovo. Unable to overcome Moscow’s stonewalling in the U.N. Security Council and apparently losing the resolve to bypass it, the United States and European allies have accepted yet another postponement... MORE

LUTSENKO TOPS YUSHCHENKO’S LIST FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s bloc for the early parliamentary elections scheduled for September 30 has been formally set up. At a July 5 meeting chaired by Yushchenko, representatives of several right-of-center parties signed a declaration proclaiming the Our Ukraine People’s Self-Defense Bloc (NUNS). The bloc’s... MORE