Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
OSCE: END OF YEAR BRINGS END OF ROAD AS SECURITY ACTOR
The OSCE’s year-end conference, which opened on December 4 in Brussels, foundered again as it has every year since 2001 on the main unresolved European security problem: Russian forces in Georgia and Moldova and the related status of the treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe... MORE
RUSSIA SEES SCO AS POTENTIAL ENERGY CARTEL
Facing mounting Western accusations of aggressive behavior in the energy sector, Moscow is turning eastward in search of more friendly energy partners. One potential source is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Alexander Lukin, director of the Center of East Asian and SCO Studies of the... MORE
SURPRISE SUSPENSION OF PRIVATE TV IN AZERBAIJAN LEAVES MANY PUZZLED
At its regularly scheduled November 24 meeting, the National Radio and Television Council (NRTC) of Azerbaijan decided to suspend the broadcast license of ANS TV, the first private television station in the country, and its radio station ANS-CM. Council chairman Nushiravan Maharramli stated that the... MORE
RUSSIA IGNORES THE RIGA SUMMIT AND EXPECTS NATO TO FAIL IN AFGHANISTAN
Moscow was remarkably relaxed about the NATO summit held in Latvia’s capital, Riga, last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin even played with the idea of making an informal visit there for French President Jacques Chirac’s birthday party but abandoned it due to “other commitments” (Vremya... MORE
ALTERNATIVE SOUTH OSSETIAN LEADER INAUGURATED
On December 1 Dmitry Sanakoyev was inaugurated as alternative South Ossetian leader and announced the formation of an alternative local administration in Georgian and mixed Ossetian-Georgian areas of South Ossetia. Sanakoyev and his Union for the National Salvation of Ossetians (UNSO) enjoy support also in... MORE
PRESIDENT BAKIYEV REASSESSING BISHKEK’S FOREIGN SECURITY RELATIONS
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, shaken by recent events within Kyrgyzstan, used the opportunity presented by the November 28 Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Minsk to reassert his efforts to improve national security. During his meeting in Minsk with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rakhmonov, he... MORE
LUGAR URGES ACTIVE ROLE FOR NATO IN ENERGY SECURITY POLICY
In a keynote speech during NATO's summit in Riga, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for updating NATO's basic role to include protection of allied countries' energy security. Addressing a summit event sponsored by the German Marshall Fund... MORE
MOSCOW OFFERS ANKARA EXPANDED COOPERATION IN ENERGY SPHERE
As both Russia and Turkey are increasingly dissatisfied with the nature of their relations with the West, the two Eurasian countries appear intent to further develop their bilateral cooperation. Continuing to build energy ties seems to be the surest way to enhance Moscow and Ankara’s... MORE
GAIDAR’S APPARENT POISONING FUELS CONSPIRACY THEORIES
The international scandal triggered by the murder of former Federal Security Service (FSB) lieutenant colonel Alexander Litvinenko, who died in London on November 23 after apparently being poisoned by the radioactive element polonium-210, has intensified with news of the apparent poisoning of former prime minister... MORE
ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS REKINDLE HOPES FOR KARABAKH PEACE
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have produced a new glimmer of hope for a resolution of the Karabakh conflict following their third face-to-face meeting in less than a year. Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev have indicated that they made further progress towards a mutually... MORE