Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

KREMLIN CONTINUES ATTEMPTS TO DIVIDE EUROPE

Trying to create a rift within the European Union, Russia wants the international community to condemn some of the bloc’s new members that allegedly discriminate against certain categories of their own population. According to analysts, big-time geopolitics, including the extremely sensitive issue of energy security,... MORE

BUCKING THE WTO, RUSSIA BROADENS ECONOMIC MEASURES AGAINST GEORGIA AND MOLDOVA

Russia’s Inspectorate for Consumer Protection (RosPotrebNadzor) has emerged as a proxy implementer of the Russian government’s foreign policy in conflict situations, a development paralleling the Kremlin’s larger-scale moves against foreign energy companies through environmental inspectorates. On November 7, RosPotrebNadzor head Gennady Onishchenko announced that Russia... MORE

OPPOSITION CELEBRATES AS NEW CONSTITUTION ADOPTED IN KYRGYZSTAN

On November 8 the Kyrgyz opposition bloc “For Reforms” finally managed to broker a compromise between the parliament and President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to endorse a new constitution that considerably empowers the legislative branch and strips the president of key prerogatives. Despite earlier outbreaks of violence... MORE

GAZPROM’S “PURE COMMERCE” IN GEORGIA

Gazprom’s deputy chairman and head of Gazexport, Alexander Medvedev, confirmed on November 7 the price hike to $230 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas to Georgia in 2007, up from $110 in 2006. Gazprom will stop deliveries to Georgia on January 1, 2007, unless the... MORE

OFFICIAL MINSK OUTRAGED BY MOSCOW’S POLITICAL USE OF THE ENERGY LEVERAGE

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka’s visit to the Kremlin, scheduled for Friday, November 10, “will obviously be a rather difficult meeting,” according to Russia’s Ambassador in Minsk, Alexander Surikov, at a stage-setting news conference. Russia will not offer low-priced energy to Belarus, he warned, because “Russia... MORE

ASTANA OPTS FOR RUSSIAN ASSISTANCE IN NUCLEAR ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

The most productive part of Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov’s October 26 journey to Moscow appears to be his talks with Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom). Beaming for the cameras, Akhmetov said the sides had reached “fundamental agreements” on... MORE