Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN OIL SUMMIT: AN UNEASY, FLEETING COMPROMISE
On May 19 in Kyiv, President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and other senior Ukrainian officials met in an emergency conference with Russia's Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian state pipeline monopoly Transneft chairman Semyon Vainshtok, and top executives of Russian oil companies and their branches... MORE
MOSCOW SIGNS BORDER AGREEMENT WITH ESTONIA
On May 18 in Moscow, Ministers of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov and Urmas Paet signed a long-awaited agreement on the Russia-Estonia border. The agreement had been initialed in 1996 and reconfirmed in 1999, its content fully approved by the Russian side in all details. However,... MORE
RUSSIAN PUNDITS DIVIDED ON HOW TO REACT TO THE DEATH THROُES OF POST-SOVIET WORLD
The violent unrest spreading across eastern Uzbekistan may symbolize the second, and final, stage of the Soviet Union's collapse. Russian strategists appear divided as to what Moscow's response should be to the ongoing geopolitical transformations. While the liberal minority suggests Russia would be well advised... MORE
RUSSIAN POLICIES DRIVE NORTH CAUCASUS INTO ARMS OF REBELS
On May 16 the separatist Kavkazcenter website published a decree from Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev, the new Chechen rebel leader after Aslan Maskhadov's death in March. Sadulaev ordered the insurgents to establish a new front in the North Caucasus. According to the decree, the "Caucasus Front" will... MORE
IMPLICATIONS OF THE ANDIJAN CRACKDOWN FOR U.S. SECURITY ASSISTANCE
As details emerge from the military crackdown in Andijan, Uzbekistan, the foreign governments giving security assistance to Uzbekistan are assessing the implications. Comments offered by senior defense officials in neighboring Kazakhstan suggest that Tashkent needs further military reform, especially for promoting speedy progress towards professionalizing... MORE
KYRGYZSTAN EXTENDS RELUCTANT WELCOME TO UZBEK REFUGEES
Reports about the number of Uzbeks fleeing the Andijan and Pakhtaabad massacres for southern Kyrgyzstan range from 500 to 6,000. Kyrgyz Ombudsman Tursunbai Bakir predicts the refugee flows will increase up to a million if the Uzbek conflict continues to intensify (Akipress, May 17). It... MORE
ASTANA FACES POLITICAL DILEMMAS AFTER UZBEK UPRISING
While there seems to be no connection between Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev's unusually extensive tours to southern and western Kazakhstan in recent days and the riots in Andijan of Uzbekistan, the Kazakh strongman is obviously more concerned with his uncertain prospects for retaining power in... MORE
UZBEKISTAN’S RIOTS YIELD MIXED RESPONSE IN RUSSIA
As the Kremlin sides with Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov over the recent uprising in the Central Asian state, official Russian media outlets have linked up to back this point of view. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Karimov discussed the situation by telephone on May 14... MORE
KYIV TAKES EMERGENCY STEPS TO COPE WITH FUEL CRISIS
Ukraine's presidential administration and government are multiplying emergency measures in response to severe fuel shortages and prices hikes by an informal cartel of Russian suppliers (see EDM, May 18). Yesterday [May 18], President Viktor Yushchenko signed the legislation adopted on the preceding day by parliament,... MORE
GEORGIA AND RUSSIA MARCH TOWARD DIPLOMATIC WAR
On March 10, the Georgian Parliament passed a resolution that set a May 15 deadline for progress in the bilateral negotiations about the terms for closing the two remaining Russian military bases in Georgia. Since the parties have failed to make any progress, beginning May... MORE