Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
KYRGYZSTAN, UN DISAGREE OVER REMAINING ANDIJAN REFUGEES
Uzbek human rights activists officially thanked Kyrgyzstan, the UN, and the OSCE for letting refugees from the May riots in Andijan, Uzbekistan, find asylum in a third country. Last week 439 Andijan refugees were sent to Romania en route to host countries that had agreed... MORE
DEPARTURE OF ANDIJAN REFUGEES MAY DESTABILIZE FERGANA VALLEY
"We shall return with victory and invite you all to the celebration party!" With these parting words to journalists, 439 refugees from the May uprising in Andijan, Uzbekistan, boarded an airplane that would carry them to Romania and on to a new host country. However,... MORE
TASHKENT ASKS U.S. TO CLOSE AIR BASE
On July 29, Uzbekistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs delivered a note to the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, asking the United States to vacate the Karshi-Khanabad air base, withdraw the troops and materiel from Uzbekistan, and terminate the 2001 bilateral agreement within 180 days. The document... MORE
NAZARBAYEV LINES UP HIS MEN AHEAD OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN
On July 8 Rakhat Aliev, the son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, was promoted from Kazakhstan's ambassador to Austria to first deputy foreign minister. The move left analysts guessing about the hidden rationale behind this personnel change. First, Aliev, husband of the president's eldest daughter... MORE
DISENTANGLING THE MOSCOW-BERLIN AXIS: FOLLOW THE MONEY
Russian foreign policy under Vladimir Putin’s presidency has been generally undetermined and often opportunistic with only one constant: strategic partnership with Germany. This country definitely occupies the central place in Putin’s worldview: those several years he spent in the KGB’s Dresden office in the mid-1980s... MORE
RUSSIAN FORCES BEGIN WITHDRAWAL FROM GEORGIA, DIG HEELS IN MOLDOVA
Presented with flowers and Georgian champagne by demonstrators cheering their withdrawal, Russian soldiers set out from the Batumi base at dawn on July 30 in a convoy bound for Russia. The move marks the beginning of Russia’s implementation of the agreement, signed May 30 by... MORE
WHAT LIES BEHIND ALLEGED “PLOT” TO KILL TYMOSHENKO?
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has lost a battle in her crusade against the “oligarchs.” The Supreme Economic Court has ruled in favor of former president Leonid Kuchma’s son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, in a dispute over the ownership of the Nikopol Ferroalloys Plant (NFZ). Tymoshenko accused... MORE
BAKU ON EDGE AMID REPORTS OF INCREASING TERRORIST MOVEMENTS IN AZERBAIJAN
Several incidents in the last few months suggest that Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, faces a significant terrorist threat. On July 21, two policemen were wounded during a daytime ambush. When the two approached a car near the central market and asked for documents, the... MORE
Ambassador William Hill’s Response to Vladimir Socor
Ms. Ann Robertson, Managing Editor Eurasia Daily Monitor The Jamestown Foundation Dear Ms. Robertson: In two recent articles in the Jamestown “Monitor,” as in numerous other interviews and comments, Vladimir Socor has totally misrepresented the position and activities of the OSCE in general and the... MORE
KREMLIN ENVOY SAYS BRUSSELS IS A DIFFICULT PARTNER
On July 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed veteran diplomat Vladimir Chizhov to be Russia's permanent representative at the European Union. Assessing his new role, the Kremlin envoy conceded that the recently expanded EU had become a tougher partner for Moscow. But Chizhov himself is... MORE