Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
RUSSIA PLEDGES TO UPHOLD GLOBAL ENERGY SECURITY
Russia has reiterated its earlier pledges to safeguard global energy security, putting the issue at the top of the agenda while holding the G-8 presidency this year. However, some of Russia's proposed solutions have not exactly worked when they were tried in resource-rich Central Asia.... MORE
RUSSIAN REACTION TO MILOSEVIC’S DEATH REVEALS RIFT BETWEEN KREMLIN AND THE WEST
The controversy over the death of former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic laid bare the deep-seated uneasiness in relations between Russia and the West. The Kremlin appears bent on taking advantage of Milosevic's demise in the same way it tried to make use of his actions... MORE
TRANS-CASPIAN EXPORT OPTION NOW AVAILABLE TO CPC COMPANIES IN KAZAKHSTAN
Visiting Kazakhstan on March 14, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced that he was conveying to President Nursultan Nazarbayev "the desire of the United States" to expedite the signing of the agreement on trans-Caspian oil transport from Kazakhstan through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (press release, March... MORE
KYIV REOPENING THE DOOR TO ROSUKRENERGO
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and some government authorities seem again to endorse the deeply damaging gas deals signed on January 4 and February 2 with Gazprom's shadowy offshoot RosUkrEnergo. Yushchenko had ignored widespread criticism of those agreements, until unpublicized U.S. and EU intercessions persuaded him... MORE
ROSUKRENERGO SNEAKING BACK INTO UKRAINE
Pending the March 26 parliamentary elections, official Kyiv has shelved the deeply damaging gas deals it signed on January 4 and February 2 with Gazprom and its offshoot RosUkrEnergo. President Viktor Yushchenko and those close associates who confused him into advocating for these deals seemed... MORE
UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES CAMPAIGN FOR RUSSIAN LANGUAGE
The Russian language issue has been employed in the run-up to the March 26 Ukrainian parliamentary election probably more actively than in any past poll. Unlike in previous elections, where marginal groups and low-key candidates played the Russian-language card, now such heavyweights as the frontrunner... MORE
KARABAKH CONFLICT HANGS OVER GEORGIA’S ARMENIAN-POPULATED REGIONS
Tensions are running high in Tsalka and Akhalkalaki, two regions of Georgia that are predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians. The latest problem began in Tsalka on March 9, when a trivial brawl at a restaurant between local Armenians and Georgians resulted in the death of... MORE
UZBEKISTAN HOSTS SCO ANTI-TERRORIST DRILL
The member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conducted a joint anti-terrorist drill in Uzbekistan, March 5-9. The drill itself was aimed at developing greater interoperability among the Special Forces of the SCO states (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) in tracking and... MORE
BAKIYEV FACES STRONG, MATURING OPPOSITION IN KYRGYZSTAN
One year after Kyrgyzstan's March 24 Tulip Revolution Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev faces outspoken criticism of his regime from both political and non-governmental sources. Although the current political situation in Kyrgyzstan largely resembles the final years of former president Askar Akayev's regime, when the general... MORE
RUSSIA VIEWS MONGOLIA AS GATEWAY TO CHINA
Russian banks have announced plans to fund a major refinery project in Mongolia. The oil refinery will not only process Siberian crude, but it is also designed to cater to the needs of the Chinese market. A group of Russian and Czech banks have signed... MORE