Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
KAZAKHSTAN, KYRGYZSTAN, UZBEKISTAN, AND TAJIKISTAN SIGN PACT TO PRESERVE ARAL SEA
Central Asian leaders reiterated pledges to rescue the Aral Sea during a summit meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Friday, September 1. At that meeting, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan decided to revive the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea. (Turkmenistan did... MORE
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, DEFENSE MINISTER SHOW SIGNS OF RIFT
Recent weeks have revealed a rift between Armenia’s two most powerful leaders that could have far-reaching implications for the political future of the South Caucasus state. President Robert Kocharian is reportedly monitoring with unease the efforts by Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian, his hitherto chief lieutenant... MORE
RUSSIAN COAST GUARD SHOOTS JAPANESE FISHERMAN IN DISPUTED WATERS
A border incident has reignited the decades-long territorial dispute between Moscow and Tokyo. Russian border guards fired on a Japanese boat in disputed waters, killing a fisherman, for allegedly poaching in Russian territorial waters. Japan responded with a “strong protest” to Moscow. Moscow has insisted... MORE
IT LOOKS, SOUNDS, FEELS LIKE A BLOCKADE: RUSSIAN OIL BLOCKADE OF LITHUANIA
Ignored by Western believers in Russia’s reliability as an energy supplier, the Russian government is attempting to either bankrupt or capture the oil concern Mazeikiai in Lithuania. The holding’s centerpiece, the Mazeikiai refinery, is the only refinery in the three Baltic states and largest economic... MORE
LITHUANIAN REFINERY IS STRUGGLING TO STAY AFLOAT DESPITE RUSSIAN PRESSURE
Russia’s state-run monopoly Transneft has warned that it might indefinitely shut down the pipeline feeding Lithuania’s largest oil refinery, Mazeikiai Nafta. At the end of July, Transneft stopped providing crude to Mazeikiai, citing damage in the section of the Druzhba-1 pipeline (see EDM, August 3).... MORE
SEARCH FOR REBELS UNDERWAY IN KABARDINO-BALKARIA
On August 12 military and police units clashed with a group of rebels near the city of Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, a region in the North Caucasus. As troops combed the woods near Nalchik, they met and clashed with a rebel group in a... MORE
YANUKOVYCH COLD-SHOULDERED ON FIRST VISIT TO RUSSIA
Ukraine’s new prime minister, Viktor Yanukovych, paid his first visit abroad in that capacity on August 15-16 to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in Sochi. The visit’s results are inconclusive, but Russia’s message to Ukraine seems clear: Economic favors are ruled out for the time... MORE
GEORGIA’S SUCCESS IN KODORI GORGE BOLSTERS CASE TO REPLACE RUSSIAN “PEACEKEEPERS”
Georgian authorities have successfully restored legal order and are starting intensive development work in the hitherto isolated upper part of the Kodori Gorge. Tbilisi-based authorities of the pre-1992 Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia are now relocating to upper Kodori, the only part of Abkhazia not controlled... MORE
OPPOSITION DIVIDES OVER LOCAL ELECTIONS WHILE GOVERNMENT INTENSIFIES CAMPAIGN
Georgia will hold elections for local governments in early December, Giorgi Arveladze, head of President Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration, announced on August 7. Arveladze mentioned two reasons for choosing that month: to allow incumbent governments time to complete projects and to allow the new governments to... MORE
UKRAINE’S NEW GOVERNMENT OUTLINES ITS ENERGY POLICY
Ukraine is approaching the heating season and agricultural autumn sowing season amid uncertainty over the price of gas, runaway prices on oil products and motor fuel, and with the state oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrainy indebted to an extent that looks like insolvency. Prime... MORE