Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
PUTIN’S GAS BLUNDER
The abortive interruption of Russian natural gas supplies to Ukraine on January 1 was a humiliating diplomatic blunder. It was an unnecessary crisis, and one that Russia clumsily lost in the court of world public opinion. While Ukraine was threatened with a gas blockade, Russia... MORE
YUSHCHENKO’S GOVERNMENT LOSES VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE
Yesterday, January 10, the Ukrainian parliament voted no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, which has only been in place since late September 2005, when he replaced Yulia Tymoshenko (rada.gov.ua). President Viktor Yushchenko seems oblivious to the building furor over the new... MORE
IS ALIYEV GOVERNMENT MEDDLING IN AZERBAIJAN’S BUSINESS SECTOR?
The post-parliamentary election period in Azerbaijan was marked by an unusually harsh crackdown on a group of high-profile businessmen. Foremost, the assets of the country's largest private oil company, Azpetrol, were stripped from its owner, Rafik Aliyev, who had been arrested even before the November... MORE
CENTRAL ASIAN GAS: LOST TO EUROPE AFTER RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN DEAL?
The Russian-Ukrainian gas agreement, signed on January 4 for a five-year period, guarantees Russia's monopoly on the transport and marketing of Central Asian gas to Europe. Although this situation is equally detrimental to Ukraine and Europe, the agreement is so framed as to entrap Ukraine... MORE
MOSCOW’S GAS WAR WITH UKRAINE LEAVES ASTANA BRUISED
Officials in Astana followed the New Year's gas dispute between Moscow and Kyiv with an air of detachment, but the compromise solution reached between Ukraine and Russia runs counter to the economic interests of Kazakhstan. The deal enables Russia to sell its gas for $230... MORE
WITH CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM STALLED, BAKIYEV OPTS FOR REFERENDUM
On January 5, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the decree "On Arrangements to Prepare a National Referendum in the Kyrgyz Republic," calling for a referendum on constitutional reform at the end of 2006. While Bakiyev seeks to postpone constitutional reform for as long as possible,... MORE
DUSHANBE LOOKS TOWARDS AFGHANISTAN TO COMBAT DRUG TRAFFICKING
The authorities in Dushanbe, fully aware of the growing security issues confronting Tajikistan and the region as a result of drug trafficking, are making gradual inroads into finding alternative partners to support domestic efforts to tackle the problem. Notably, this policy need has raised the... MORE
MARKET ECONOMICS TAKES A DRUBBING IN RUSSIA-UKRAINE GAS DEAL
If the Soviet Kremlin invoked "internationalism" to cover the expansionism of the Soviet state, President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin invokes free-market economics to cloak the Russian state's use of the energy trade for rebuilding its power in Eurasia. Some key European officials seem to have accepted... MORE
XENOPHOBES TO CONTEST SEATS IN UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT
Ukraine's parliamentary election campaign is in full swing. In accordance with political reform approved in December 2004 (see EDM, January 3), the election scheduled for March 26 will be contested exclusively by parties and blocs of parties, without any first-past-the-post constituencies for individual candidates. By... MORE
EIGHT CANDIDATES SEEK BELARUS PRESIDENCY
On December 16, deputies of the Belarusian House of Representatives agreed unanimously that the date of the 2006 presidential elections in Belarus would be March 19. The date took many people by surprise, because it had been widely anticipated both within and outside the country... MORE