Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
WHAT NEXT FOR THE UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION?
Tables have turned in Ukrainian politics as a result of the March parliamentary election and the ensuing formation of a broad coalition in parliament. There is no longer a strong left-wing opposition: the Socialists have been entrenched in the government since early 2005, and the... MORE
GEORGIA INDICTS PRO-MOSCOW ACTIVISTS AHEAD OF PLANNED DISTURBANCES
A dozen activists of pro-Moscow groups in Georgia are being held in pre-trial custody for a period of up to two months; and two others have been freed on bail, pending trial. They all face charges of treason and conspiracy to overthrow the government and... MORE
FIRES IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES PUT BAKU AND YEREVAN AT ODDS
Since June, officials in Azerbaijan and Armenia have been at odds over the question of who caused massive fires burning Azerbaijani territories currently under Armenian control. The fires have become an environmental disaster for the region burning vast fields, forests, and some vacated residential areas... MORE
IVANOV COMMENT SUGGESTS MOSCOW IGNORING NUCLEAR WEAPONS AGREEMENT WITH WASHINGTON
On Sunday September 10, during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin aboard the Baltic Fleet's flagship, the destroyer Nastoychivy, at the naval base Baltiysk, Kaliningrad, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov made public that Russia has apparently abrogated a major nuclear arms control agreement. During the... MORE
NEW BROOM AT U.S.-LED OSCE MISSION IN MOLDOVA
A new American chief has just taken over at the OSCE’s Mission in Moldova, scene of a “frozen conflict” orchestrated by Russia on what has now become the border of NATO and the EU. From 1993 to date, the OSCE has attempted in vain to... MORE
DISPUTABLE ANNIVERSARY COULD PROVOKE NEW CRISIS IN ADYGEYA
On September 9 Russian President Vladimir Putin signed three decrees that could deepen the crisis in the volatile North Caucasus. Putin issued the decrees to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the voluntary unification of Adygeya, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, and Kabardino-Balkaria with Russia. In the 16th century, a... MORE
UKRAINE: BACK TO STRATEGIC SQUARE ONE
Cohabitation of the Party of Regions with a minority Orange faction and a Regions-dominated government would seem to mark a shift in Ukraine’s foreign policy paradigm: from the Euro-Atlantic orientation proclaimed by the short-lived Orange Revolution, back to the Kuchma era (1994-2004) “two vectors” paradigm... MORE
TOP KYRGYZ OFFICIALS ACCUSED OF PLOTTING AGAINST OPPOSITION LEADER
A fresh scandal broke out in Kyrgyzstan when Omurbek Tekebayev, a member of the Kyrgyz parliament and a leader of the opposition movement For Reforms, was arrested at the Warsaw airport on September 6 for allegedly smuggling 500 grams of heroin. Polish authorities soon released... MORE
TASHKENT SEES ASTANA AS GATEWAY TO WESTERN COOPERATION
Uzbekistan’s turbulent bilateral relations with Kazakhstan, steadily improving in recent years as both countries vied for the potential benefits of cooperating with the West in the War on Terror, have now become a key political target for Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Karimov’s state visit to... MORE
PUTIN’S AMBITIONS AND RUSSIA’S MILITARY FEEBLENESS
There was nothing particularly disturbing about the failed launch of the experimental Bulava (SS-NX-30) strategic missile from the Dmitry Donskoi submarine on the evening of September 7. Failures happen, and they are quite useful for identifying problems that should be addressed before the missile is... MORE