Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
RUMORS SUGGEST MAJOR RUSSIAN MILITARY REORGANIZATION IMMINENT
Western accounts of Vladimir Putin's Russia have almost wholly ignored the regime's ongoing efforts at defense reform, even though they have been steadily underway for at least two or three years. Indeed, there are numerous signs that reforms are not only continuing but may actually... MORE
OUR UKRAINE, PARTY OF REGIONS LOOK FOR COALITION ALLIES, MAY FIND EACH OTHER
Just a year ago, the idea of a union between president-elect Viktor Yushchenko and his arch-rival Viktor Yanukovych, defeated and disgraced by vote-rigging accusations, would have been bizarre. But current realities make quite possible a coalition between Yushchenko's Our Ukraine and Yanukovych's Party of Regions... MORE
MOSCOW KILLS BODEN PAPER, THREATENS TO TERMINATE UNOMIG IN GEORGIA
During his five-day visit to Germany, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told the press that Russia's process of self-definition includes the issue of recognizing where Russia's borders end. In Georgia's case, the unlawful presence of Russian troops within Georgia's borders represents the only real source of... MORE
ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TO REPLACE DEFIANT HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
Armenia's Office of the Human Rights Defender is facing an uncertain future after a government-engineered leadership change. The country's first human rights ombudsperson, Larisa Alaverdian, is set to be replaced by a staunch loyalist of President Robert Kocharian after two years of high-profile activities that... MORE
RUSSIA REGISTERS GROWTH IN TRADE WITH CHINA, BUT INCREASE DUE TO HIGHER PRICES, NOT MORE TURNOVER
The Kremlin has boasted that Russia's growing trade with China is a manifestation of Moscow's "strategic" bilateral partnership with Beijing. Yet despite Russia's stated reluctance to limit itself to the role of raw materials supplier for the Chinese economy, actual export and import trends in... MORE
ENERGY DILEMMA FOR BELARUS
On January 24, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Constantine Palace near St Petersburg prior to a session of the Russian-Belarusian Supreme State Council. Lukashenka remarked that the integration process between the two states had taken on an irreversible... MORE
PUTIN, GAZPROM, AND “THE OTHER NORWEGIAN COMPANY”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has every reason to be pleased with his performance at last week's press conference. For three and a half hours he confidently and smoothly handled a barrage of questions, not all of them conveniently pre-arranged, projecting the image of a competent... MORE
MOSCOW ON KOSOVO: HAVING ITS CAKE AND EATING IT TOO
Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal that the status of Kosovo should, after its enactment, be used as model and precedent for settling the post-Soviet conflicts (see EDM, February 2) was predictable in its content, but unusual in its form. Putin personally aired the proposal in... MORE
MOSCOW CHANGES TACTICS IN UKRAINE
According to as yet unconfirmed but largely credible reports on February 2 from Kyiv, officials in the presidency and government have authorized the immediate signing of a gas agreement and six attachments with Russia. Those documents are said to ensure Russian monopoly use and possibly... MORE
BIFURCATION OF EUROPE: RUSSIA PONDERS STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE IN EURO-EAST
A new World Bank study, released on January 31, warns that the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are moving along two divergent economic trajectories: a group of more prosperous and faster-reforming states are forging closer ties with Western Europe, while the... MORE