Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
OSCE YEAR-END CONFERENCE FAILS TO ADOPT KEY DOCUMENTS ON SECURITY
The OSCE's year-end conference on December 5-6 foundered over Russia's defiance on two sets of issues: First, Moldova and related issues of implementing the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty and Russia's 1999 Istanbul Commitments on troop withdrawal from Moldova and Georgia. And, second, Russian-prescribed... MORE
MOLDOVAN EXPERTS BLAST RUSSIA-OSCE MILITARY PLAN
In the run-up to the OSCE's year-end conference, which began yesterday, December 5, the organization's Moldova Mission made public on November 29 in Chisinau the hitherto secret package of force-reduction and confidence-building measures that Russia and the OSCE have jointly authored and proposed to the... MORE
NAZARBAYEV CRUISES TO LANDSLIDE VICTORY IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
On Sunday December 4, citizens of Kazakhstan went to the polls to elect their president. While the incumbent, Nursultan Nazarbayev was expected to win, his principal challenger, Zharmakhan Tuyakbay of the opposition bloc "For a Fair Kazakhstan," played to the cameras. Giving a forced smile... MORE
RUSSIA OFFERS HELP COMBATING DRUGS IN CENTRAL ASIA
Russia has long expressed concern about the rising security risks associated with burgeoning drug trafficking through Central Asia, though its assistance to these countries has often been questioned in terms of its practical results. Moscow has stepped up its emphasis on this aspect of its... MORE
HIGH-RANKING KYRGYZ OFFICIAL PROPOSES NEW NATIONAL IDEOLOGY
Following the removal of Kyrgyzstan's long-time President Askar Akayev on March 24, 2005, the new government led by Kurmanbek Bakiyev terminated some of Akayev's efforts to build an official state ideology. But aside from anti-corruption slogans aimed at remnants of Akayev's regime, the Bakiyev government... MORE
CSTO SEEN AS A SHIELD AGAINST OUTSIDE MEDDLING
Russia has reiterated its pledges to strengthen the regional security grouping it has established with five former Soviet states. At an unprecedented November 29-30 meeting in Moscow of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO, which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan) Council of... MORE
MOSCOW VOTES FOR LUZHKOV AS RIVALRY WITH PUTIN INTENSIFIES
On Sunday, December 4, Muscovites elected the members of their City Duma. Elections of this kind usually attract so little attention from voters that the minimum turnout was set at only 20%. The city council has even less power within its borders than the State... MORE
PARTY OF REGIONS ENLISTS AKHMETOV FOR POLLS
The Party of Regions of Ukraine (PRU) of Viktor Yanukovych, who was Viktor Yushchenko's main opponent in last year's presidential election, has come up with its list for the March 26 parliamentary elections. Unlike Yushchenko's Our Ukraine or Yulia Tymoshenko's party, the PRU will run... MORE
EUROPEAN UNION DEPLOYS FIRST BORDER MONITORING MISSION
The European Union's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, and EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner joined the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Moldova, Borys Tarasyuk and Andrei Stratan, to inaugurate the EU's Border Assistance Mission (BAM) for... MORE
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN CHECHNYA: NO CLEAR WINNER
At noon on November 27, Russian TV broadcast a report about the progress of that day's parliamentary elections in Chechnya. The correspondent was standing alone inside the heavily guarded government headquarters in Grozny. No other people were visible in the area and the scene was... MORE