Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
SHAH-DENIZ GAS BUTTRESSING GEORGIA, AZERBAIJAN ECONOMICALLY AND POLITICALLY
At 10 pm local time on January 14, commercial production and the delivery flow of gas started at the first well of Azerbaijan’s giant offshore field Shah-Deniz, a BP-led project. In the afternoon of the following day, the first volumes of gas reached Georgia through... MORE
IRAN TAKES DELIVERY OF RUSSIAN TOR-M1 MISSILES
Yesterday, January 16, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced that Russia had completed the delivery of modern Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Ivanov insisted that the missiles were "100% defensive weapons" and that Russia did not violate any international agreements by dispatching the Tor-M1s. He... MORE
YUSHCHENKO LOSES CABINET LAW TO YANUKOVYCH AND TYMOSHENKO
Ukraine’s parliament has passed a law on the Cabinet of Ministers that strengthens the Cabinet vis-à-vis the president. The law fills in gaps left in the national legislation by the imperfect constitutional reform of 2004-2006, interpreting in the Cabinet’s favor the points dealing with relations... MORE
HUNGARY AND THE NABUCCO PROJECT: TIME TO END THE AMBIGUITY
In its comprehensive package of strategy documents, “Energy Policy for Europe,” just released in Brussels, the European Commission has proposed appointing a European Coordinator for the planned Nabucco gas pipeline, deemed a “critical project” by the EU (Press release, January 10). The pipeline is designed... MORE
NAZARBAYEV APPOINTS CIVILIAN DEFENSE MINISTER
On January 10 Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev took the dramatic step of appointing Kazakhstan’s first civilian defense minister. In general terms the step will be welcomed in the West, as it sends a clear signal that the Kazakh government is interested in increasing civilian control... MORE
KREMLIN LETS ADYGEYA KEEP ITS VIRTUAL AUTONOMY
On December 13, the parliament of Adygeya, a region in the North Caucasus, voted to confirm Aslan Tkhakushinov as president of the republic. According to Russian law, the president of the Russian Federation nominates a candidate for regional leadership posts and the local parliament votes... MORE
PUTIN UPHOLDS NON-EXISTENT RULE OF LAW IN RUSSIA
The main news in Russia at the start of the new year comes, rather unusually, from the courts and law-enforcement agencies. At the top of the list is the arrest of a group of suspects in the murder of Andrei Kozlov, first deputy chairman of... MORE
RUSSIA CHANGES TERMS OF OIL SUPPLY TO BELARUS
On January 12 in Moscow, Prime Ministers Mikhail Fradkov of Russia and Syarhey Sidorski of Belarus inked agreements on oil supplies and transit, eliminating part of Russia’s hidden subsidies to Belarus. By the same token, the agreement seems to preclude actions by Belarus that would... MORE
IS RUSSIA-BELARUS FRIENDSHIP OVER?
On January 12, Belarus and Russia signed an agreement resolving an impasse over oil transit that had led to the closure of the Druzhba pipeline (the main conduit of Russian oil to Europe) for three days. The Belarusian side agreed to pay a tax of... MORE
BRONZE SOLDIER SET TO LEAVE TALLINN AS LAST SOVIET SOLDIER
On Wednesday, January 10, the Estonian parliament adopted in the third and final reading a “Law on the Protection of War Burial Sites,” clearing the way for the long-awaited removal of the monument to the Liberating Soviet Soldier from downtown Tallinn and other obtrusive symbols... MORE