Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
RUSSIA PLAYS PEACE ADVOCATE IN KYRGYZ “REGIME CHANGE”
Russia's military presence in Central Asia has come into focus again through its participation in the Rubezh 2005 military exercises involving participants from the Commonwealth of Independent States. Although in itself there is nothing unusual about this exercise, the involvement of Russian air force units... MORE
RUSSIA PURSUES TURKMEN RICHES, WITH MIXED RESULTS
Russia has been courting Turkmenistan's authoritarian regime in an apparent attempt to secure its energy interests in the gas-rich Central Asian state. However, the pursuit has been dealt a number of setbacks recently. In the wake of regime change in Kyrgyzstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin... MORE
SECESSIONIST LEADERS HOLD “MINISTERIAL” TALKS, PREPARE “SUMMIT”
The self-styled "ministers of foreign affairs" of Transnistria and Abkhazia, Valery Litskay and Sergei Shamba, along with South Ossetia's "permanent representative" to Russia, Dmitry Medoev, held a tripartite meeting and talks with Russian officials on April 3-4 in Moscow. On March 30, Transnistria's "president" Igor... MORE
MOLDOVA’S VORONIN REELECTED PRESIDENT WITH BROAD DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT
On April 4, Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin was reelected to a second four-year term by an unprecedented -- indeed, until now, unthinkable -- political alliance, ranging from his Communist Party to right-wing Christian-Democrats and right-of-center Social-Liberals. This informal alliance defeated Moscow's goal of unseating Voronin.... MORE
AKAYEV OFFICIALLY RESIGNS WHILE KULOV DECLARES CANDIDACY FOR PRESIDENT
Although the mass lootings in Bishkek have ended, Kyrgyzstan's political crisis is not over. The legacy of Askar Akayev's regime is patently apparent as the new government begins to revise the ownership status of the country's major businesses. At the same time, more and more... MORE
AZERBAIJAN’S ALIEV SEEKS POLISH HELP FOR EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
After visits to Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev reversed course and paid a visit to a European country -- Poland -- on March 30. The trip refuted speculations that Azerbaijan was gradually shifting its foreign policy course towards the East. The... MORE
SAAKASHVILI AND NAZARBAYEV TURN NEW PAGE IN KAZAKH-GEORGIAN RELATIONS
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili made his first visit to Kazakhstan on March 31, marking a new, post-Shevardnadze era in Kazakh-Georgian relations. The young and beaming Saakashvili, a child of the Rose Revolution, sitting together with his aging Kazakh counterpart, a lingering shadow from the communist... MORE
YUSHCHENKO VISIT TO U.S. HERALDS RETURN TO “GOLDEN ERA”
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's official visit to the United States on April 4-6 is set to radically transform U.S.-Ukrainian relations and return them to the "golden era" under President Bill Clinton. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst predicted, "We expect not only the revival of... MORE
BEREZOVSKY THREATENS TO OPEN PANDORA’S BOX CREATED BY FUGITIVE UKRAINIAN BODYGUARD
Russian emigre tycoon Boris Berezovsky claims that he has the tape recordings made by Mykola Melnychenko, the fugitive former bodyguard of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, in Kuchma's office in 1999-2000. Many observers believe the recordings may shed light on the murder of journalist Heorhiy... MORE
THE NORTH CAUCASUS SLIPS OUT OF CONTROL
The collapse of Askar Akayev's regime in Kyrgyzstan, so similar to the events in Georgia or Ajaria, has reinvigorated the debates simmering in Moscow since the Orange Revolution in Kyiv: Is a revolution, preferably of a "velvet" kind, possible in Russia? Opinions are heavily on... MORE