Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
AZERBAIJANI-RUSSIAN RELATIONS ENTER TURBULENT PHASE
Azerbaijani-Russian relations, increasingly warm in the past five years, are about to enter a difficult phase that could turn both countries into regional rivals. There are three reasons for the shift: Azerbaijan’s increasing gas production, Russia’s fight against illegal migration, and the recent visit by... MORE
WILL POLITICAL CHANGES IN KYRGYZSTAN AFFECT U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE?
At the November 27-29 NATO summit in Riga, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer mentioned the importance of the U.S. military base in Kyrgyzstan and its role in the anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan. Today, Kyrgyzstan is the only location in the Central Asian region where the... MORE
RUSSIAN POLITICAL INTRIGUE MEANS PUTIN COULD NOT HAVE BEEN IN THE DARK ABOUT LITVINENKO ATTACK
The apparent murder of former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Alexander Litvinenko in London has caused an uproar in Britain and the West, but is not much of a top story in Russia. Litvinenko fell ill November 1 and died in a London hospital... MORE
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM QUESTIONED IN UKRAINE
The constitutional reform that Ukraine’s parliament passed during the Orange Revolution in December 2004 and that came into effect after the March 2006 parliamentary election may now be revised. President Viktor Yushchenko and the parties that are in opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych believe... MORE
LUKASHENKA SEEKS NEW ALLIES TO END THE RUSSIAN GAS IMPASSE
Over the past few days Belarusian officials have held several high-level meetings involving Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan, and Minsk played host to a summit of Commonwealth of Independent States leaders. President Alexander Lukashenka has used the period constructively, in an apparent quest to stave off... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN’S EU STRATEGY BASED ON REGIONAL ASCENDANCY
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev emphasized regional security as a crucial strategic area of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom, during a visit to London on November 21. “Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Great Britain in the field of security in the region is very important.... MORE
ASTANA PLAYS IT SAFE IN DEVELOPING TIES WITH TEHRAN
Given the tense international atmosphere surrounding Iran, Astana has prudently declined to publicize its expanding ties with Tehran and depicts bilateral relations almost exclusively in economic terms. For example, official sources in Kazakhstan made few comments about the Kazakh-Iranian business conference held in Almaty on... MORE
RUSSIA AND UZBEKISTAN PLEDGE TO BOOST TIES, BUT PROBLEMS REMAIN
Although Tashkent has moved to re-join the Moscow-led post-Soviet security framework, bilateral issues remain between Russia and Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan moved to revive its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and this month the lower house of the Uzbek parliament approved a draft law... MORE
WAS LITVINENKO THE LATEST VICTIM OF A KREMLIN POWER STRUGGLE?
The death of former Federal Security Service (FSB) lieutenant colonel Alexander Litvinenko in London on November 23, and the subsequent release of his statement blaming his poisoning on President Vladimir Putin, has morphed into a serious international scandal. British Home Secretary John Reid said on... MORE
SUMMIT OF “TECHNICAL” DISAGREEMENTS AND DIMINISHING TRUST
The Russia-EU summit held in Helsinki, Finland, on November 24 was by no means loaded with expectations, thus it was hardly a disappointment. The central point of its pre-planned agenda was the formal opening of negotiations on a new framework Partnership and Cooperation agreement, since... MORE