Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
MOSCOW INTRODUCES NEW ECONOMIC INCENTIVES FOR OIL DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN SIBERIA
As Transneft, Russia's crude oil pipeline monopoly, rushes to build the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline, Moscow has introduced additional economic incentives for oil companies to boost crude output and develop new deposits in eastern Siberia. Now Russia pumps a mere one million tons of crude... MORE
U.S. SANCTIONS ROSOBORONEKSPORT OVER DEALS WITH IRAN
Russia is still mostly closed for business because of the extended Christmas holidays, but more bad news on its international standing is hardly a welcome gift. On January 6 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lashed out regarding new sanctions imposed by the United States against... MORE
AZERBAIJAN’S PRESIDENT TURNS DOWN GAZPROM’S “BLACKMAIL” PRICE
Azerbaijan has ceased importing gas from Russia as of January 1. Despite the anticipated shortage of gas in the country -- compounded by an unanticipated production delay at the international Shah Deniz gas project -- Azerbaijan has refused to pay $235 per 1,000 cubic meters... MORE
RUSSIA REGRETS SADDAM HUSSEIN’S DEATH
Deposing a dictator, let alone hanging him in public, has never been popular in Russia. Saddam Hussein’s death was no exception. Public commentary in Russia over Saddam’s death by hanging on December 30, 2006, was almost unanimously negative, although the reasons offered by those who... MORE
MOSCOW LAUNCHES MAJOR ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE
Moscow is slowly realizing that rampant corruption is sapping the country’s economic vitality and tarnishing its image among potential Western investors. This week United Russia’s Mikhail Grishankov, chair of the Duma’s anti-corruption commission, declared, “We are confident that in 2007 we will continue a full-scale... MORE
GAZPROM TOUTS AGREEMENTS WITH MOLDOVA AS “MODELS”
On December 27, Moldova’s First Deputy Prime Minister Zenaida Grecianii signed an agreement on gas deliveries for 2007 with Gazprom president Alexei Miller. On December 30, chief executives of Gazprom and MoldovaGaz -- which is majority-owned by Gazprom -- signed a five-year agreement on guidelines... MORE
RUSSIAN ARMS TRADER HAS TIES FROM AFRICA TO KREMLIN
Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering all weapons exports to be handed over to the state arms trader Rosoboroneksport beginning March 1. The MiG corporation, the Tula-based Instrument Manufacturing Design Bureau (KBP), and other independent exporters that together shipped $624 million... MORE
PARLIAMENTARY REELECTIONS LOOMING AS ANOTHER NEW CONSTITUTION ADOPTED IN KYRGYZSTAN
On December 30 the Kyrgyz parliament adopted yet another constitution. The new constitution comes only few weeks after the previous version was endorsed on November 8, 2006. The November 2006 constitution was widely celebrated by the Kyrgyz opposition, as it was achieved after nearly week-long... MORE
SHELL FORCED TO CAPITULATE TO PUTIN
A two-part deal -- one publicized on December 21 and thereafter, the other confidential but leaked by Moscow on December 28 -- has sealed Gazprom’s seizure of the majority stake in the Royal Dutch Shell-led oil and gas project Sakhalin-2. Shell, hitherto the project operator,... MORE
THE RUSSIA-BELARUS GAS DEAL: LUKASHENKA SUFFERS A DEFEAT
Two minutes before midnight on December 31, Russia's Gazprom and the Belarusian government signed a contract to supply Russian gas to Belarus for the next five years. Had the agreement not been signed, Gazprom had threatened to cut off gas supplies to its smaller neighbor,... MORE