Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
WITH CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM STALLED, BAKIYEV OPTS FOR REFERENDUM
On January 5, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the decree "On Arrangements to Prepare a National Referendum in the Kyrgyz Republic," calling for a referendum on constitutional reform at the end of 2006. While Bakiyev seeks to postpone constitutional reform for as long as possible,... MORE
DUSHANBE LOOKS TOWARDS AFGHANISTAN TO COMBAT DRUG TRAFFICKING
The authorities in Dushanbe, fully aware of the growing security issues confronting Tajikistan and the region as a result of drug trafficking, are making gradual inroads into finding alternative partners to support domestic efforts to tackle the problem. Notably, this policy need has raised the... MORE
MARKET ECONOMICS TAKES A DRUBBING IN RUSSIA-UKRAINE GAS DEAL
If the Soviet Kremlin invoked "internationalism" to cover the expansionism of the Soviet state, President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin invokes free-market economics to cloak the Russian state's use of the energy trade for rebuilding its power in Eurasia. Some key European officials seem to have accepted... MORE
XENOPHOBES TO CONTEST SEATS IN UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT
Ukraine's parliamentary election campaign is in full swing. In accordance with political reform approved in December 2004 (see EDM, January 3), the election scheduled for March 26 will be contested exclusively by parties and blocs of parties, without any first-past-the-post constituencies for individual candidates. By... MORE
EIGHT CANDIDATES SEEK BELARUS PRESIDENCY
On December 16, deputies of the Belarusian House of Representatives agreed unanimously that the date of the 2006 presidential elections in Belarus would be March 19. The date took many people by surprise, because it had been widely anticipated both within and outside the country... MORE
ILLARIONOV RESIGNATION REDUCES KREMLIN DEBATE ON ECONOMY, ENERGY POLICY
The December 27 resignation of Andrei Illarionov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's economic adviser, is yet another sign of Russia's departure from the liberal economic path. In the meantime, Illarionov's exodus also marks an end to insider criticism of a number of Kremlin policies, including a... MORE
CONTROVERSIAL ASPECTS OF RUSSIA-UKRAINE GAS AGREEMENT DISCLOSED IN KYIV
Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko made public yesterday [January 5] the confidential text of the Russia-Ukraine gas agreement, signed on January 4 in Moscow. Three aspects that officials on both sides downplayed or omitted in their briefings stand out in the confidential text (UNIAN,... MORE
KREMLIN ENERGY POLICY IN UKRAINE: UNWIELDY COMBINATION OF STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND PRIVATE INTERESTS
The controversial deal that brought an end, at least for now, to the acrimonious gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine (see EDM, January 5) appears to reflect a contradictory mix of interests that shape Kremlin energy policies. While Russia failed to attain most of the... MORE
LOOMING KARABAKH DEAL NOT DEBATED IN ARMENIA, FOR NOW
The international community has always believed that public opinion in Armenia and Azerbaijan must be prepped for painful concessions before the conflict over Karabakh can be resolved. Yet no such efforts seem to be taken in either country despite the apparently significant progress made over... MORE
TASHKENT SEEKS NEW MILITARY ASSISTANCE
Since the Andijan massacre in May 2005, Uzbekistan has made little headway with its recent attempts to use pro-Western contacts to establish a way forward for its military and security agencies. Now Uzbekistan's armed forces are the subject of widespread Soviet-style efforts to prop up... MORE