Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
KARIMOV TRAVELS TO MOSCOW, DISCUSSES ANDIJAN AND “TERRORISM” WITH PUTIN
Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov traveled to Moscow June 28-29, apparently seeking reassurance amid growing international pressure for an independent investigation into last month's bloody crackdown in Uzbekistan. Karimov reiterated his assertion that the riots in the eastern town of Andijan had been planned from abroad.... MORE
FEDERAL SWEEP IN BOROZDINOVSKAYA CREATES SERIOUS CRISIS IN NORTHERN CAUCASUS
On June 4, Russian federal troops conducted a mopping-up operation in the Chechen village of Borozdinovskaya, located in the north of the republic near the Dagestan border. This security sweep was a response to the rebel attacks that intensified in northern Chechnya this year (Chechnya... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN LEADS WATER AND ENERGY RESOURCES MANAGEMENT DRIVE IN CENTRAL ASIA
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev is gaining moral support for his initiative to form a union of Central Asian states, as declared in his annual address to the nation in February. Significantly, Nazarbayev recently noted that the Central Asian states strive for economic, as well as... MORE
CIS MILITARY STRUCTURES SEEN SHRINKING AT DEFENSE MINISTERS’ MEETING
The Council of Defense Ministers of CIS member countries met in a depleted format on June 24 in Dushanbe, with Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov in the chair. The host, Tajikistan's President Imomali Rakhmonov, noted the "negative impact of disintegration processes" -- a reversal of... MORE
KOKOITI REJECTS GEORGIAN AUTONOMY PLAN, BRACES FOR MORE FIGHTING
The situation in South Ossetia is still teetering between war and peace. Unidentified Ossetian gunmen kidnapped four Georgians from the ethnic Georgian-populated villages inside this breakaway region on June 6, and they are still missing. Search efforts by Georgian and Ossetian law enforcement and the... MORE
RUSSIA, CHINA ANTICIPATE BOOMING BILATERAL INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Investment and energy issues will top the agenda of the bilateral Russo-Chinese summit Moscow later this month. Although Beijing has demonstrated a willingness to continue its economic expansion in Russia, Moscow is apparently trying to avoid an over-reliance on China. Beijing has reiterated that energy... MORE
UKRAINIAN ECONOMIC ROUNDTABLE FAILS TO CONVINCE INVESTORS
As President Viktor Yushchenko promised, Ukraine held a mini-version of the annual Davos World Economic Forum. As The Economist (June 16) wrote, "The government hoped to give investors more clarity" at the roundtable in Kyiv, "but the impression of incompetence will linger." After three days... MORE
FROM CIS TO CSTO: CAN A “CORE” BE PRESERVED?
At the Moscow summit of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and in its wake, Russian officials have publicly acknowledged the fragmentation of the "post-Soviet space" and announced some corresponding decisions on two levels: the lexical and the political-military (see EDM, June 24 and... MORE
PUTIN SEEKS STRONGER ROLE FOR COLLECTIVE SECURITY FORCES
Russian President Vladimir Putin, elected as the new chairman of the Council of Collective Security of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), has pledged an enhanced role for the CSTO in regional security. He held out the prospect of future cooperation with NATO at the... MORE
ANDIJAN REFUGEES BECOME INTERNATIONAL ISSUE FOR BISHKEK
Bishkek faces a difficult decision regarding the legal status of refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan on May 13-14 following the riots in Andijan, Uzbekistan. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects the Kyrgyz leadership to comply with international standards and assign the Uzbek immigrants... MORE