Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

RUSSIA BEGINS CYBER ATTACKS AGAINST ESTONIAN GOVERNMENT

The Kremlin’s assault on Estonia is intensifying on four levels of varying sophistication. These include: cyber attacks from within Russia’s Presidential Administration against the Estonian presidency’s and government’s electronic communications; political demands, backed by economic sanctions threats, to change the Estonian government; siege laid by... MORE

RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES, MEDIA INFLAME SITUATION IN ESTONIA

Tallinn is trying hard to defuse the crisis by initiating a political dialogue with Moscow. To start a dialogue at the parliamentary level, the Estonian Parliament’s Chairwoman, Ene Ergma, invited a Russian delegation, headed by the Duma’s Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Nikolai Kovalyov, to Estonia... MORE

ALIEN VANDALISM IN ESTONIA’S CAPITAL

The city of Tallinn is assessing the damage after two consecutive nights of violent rioting by gangs of mostly young local Russians. The third night passed relatively quietly. Ostensibly triggered by the expected relocation of the Red Army monument (the Bronze Soldier) from downtown Tallinn,... MORE

ARMENIAN SECURITY SERVICES SUSPECTED OF SPYING ON OPPOSITION LEADER

Armenia’s intensifying parliamentary election campaign has been jolted by a scandal over the secret recording of a recent confidential meeting between a top opposition leader and a Yerevan-based Western diplomat. Details of that conversation have been controversially disclosed by a pro-establishment newspaper, in what is... MORE

KAZAKHSTAN RELYING ON THE CSTO

Kazakhstan’s Defense Minister Daniyal Akhmetov recently described the country’s participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and its military partnership with members of the organization as priorities. “Kazakhstan's new military doctrine clearly outlines issues of international military cooperation, in which a priority for the... MORE

IN FAREWELL ADDRESS, PUTIN DISTRIBUTES OIL MONEY

It was the “moratorium” on implementing the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, a largely symbolic gesture of little practical consequence, that captured Western attention in Putin’s address to parliament on Thursday, April 26. The 72-minute speech (the longest in this genre) was, however, predominantly... MORE

RUSSIA PRESSES FOR MORE CASPIAN COOPERATION WITH TURKMENISTAN

At a summit meeting in the Kremlin on April 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to press his Turkmen counterpart on a variety of issues, notably Caspian energy. But during his first official visit to Moscow Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov refrained from making any new commitments. During... MORE

AZERBAIJAN MOVES TO SHAPE IMAGE OF ISLAMIC WORLD

On April 26 a major international conference, “The Role of Media in the Promotion of Tolerance and Understanding,” opened in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference was held under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) with several high-ranking guests such as the Secretary-General... MORE