Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
ASSASSINATION OF POSSIBLE SOVMEN SUCCESSOR CLEARS THE WAY FOR KREMLIN CANDIDATE
During the evening of September 25, Murat Kudaev, head of the Krasnogvardeisk district of Adygeya, a republic in the North Caucasus, was returning home after a meeting of the Adygei government in Maykop, the local capital. When Kudaev approached Adamy, his native village in Krasnogvardeisk... MORE
SAKHALIN OIL AND GAS PROJECTS: WHAT IS BEHIND RUSSIA’S COERCIVE BEHAVIOR?
On September 18 a Russian high court ordered the temporary suspension of operations at the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas development project due to environmental considerations (Asahi Shimbun, September 18). The order followed a complaint filed by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, which claims that... MORE
TBILISI NEUTRALIZES ALLEGED RUSSIAN SPY RING, GAINS POLITICAL MILEAGE
The arrest of four Russian military intelligence officers and eleven alleged accomplices in Georgia on September 27-28 is part of Tbilisi’s ongoing efforts to neutralize a purported Russian spy network in Georgia. Two weeks earlier, on September 6, Tbilisi claimed to have averted a coup... MORE
LUKASHENKA: WHY THE UNION STATE DOES NOT EXIST
In the past week, 83 journalists from 73 different Russian media outlets visited Belarus. They hailed from 48 regions of Russia and were given a tour of enterprises and collective farms in Hrodna and Mahileu oblasts. At the end of the tour they were invited... MORE
KYRGYZ INTELLIGENCE SERVICE DETECTS SHIFT IN HIZB-UT-TAHRIR TACTICS
The political instability that has become a feature of the Kyrgyz political landscape since the March 2005 color revolution has created a window of opportunity for Islamic radicals to increase their activities and possibly inspire terrorist attacks inside the country. Such views, often expounded by... MORE
SAAKASHVILI’S U.N. ADDRESS TRANSFORMS DISCUSSION ON POST-SOVIET CONFLICTS
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s September 22 address to the United Nations General Assembly has transformed the terms of international discussion on the post-Soviet “frozen” conflicts. After Saakashvili’s address, hardly any international actors other than Moscow’s ad-hoc supporters could any longer defend Russia’s “peacekeeping” and “mediation”... MORE
PAUSE IN ENLARGEMENT CREATES STRATEGIC AMBIGUITY IN EUROPE AND RUSSIA’S COMMON NEIGHBORHOOD
An imminent halt in the European Union’s eastward expansion will create a new geopolitical reality in Russia and the EU’s overlapping neighborhoods. This week Brussels made two key decisions. First, Romania and Bulgaria were reluctantly green-lighted to join the EU in January. (The possible alternative... MORE
NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE PARTY OF AZERBAIJAN RALLIES FOR AZERIS IN IRAN
Parliamentary elections in November 2005 brought severe negative consequences for the Azerbaijani opposition. Most opposition parties are in a state of collapse; others have seen their activities stagnate because they have no results to show for the past 12 years. Yet, recent events suggest that... MORE
ILVES WINS ESTONIA’S PRESIDENCY
Toomas Hendrik Ilves won Estonia’s presidency on September 23 by the narrowest possible margin, with 174 votes in his favor -- just one vote more than the 173 necessary -- in the 345-strong electoral college. The incumbent president, Arnold Ruutel, received 162 votes. Nine electoral... MORE
RUSSIA SEEKS ENTREE INTO EUROPE’S AVIATION MARKET
Recently Vneshtorgbank, Moscow’s state owned foreign trade bank, spent about a billion dollars to buy 5.02% of the shares of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Corporation (EADS). The revelation of this purchase is a clear sign, corroborated by press reports, that Moscow seeks a... MORE