Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
MOSCOW’S MIDAS PROBLEM: WHAT TO DO WITH ALL ITS PETRO-DOLLARS?
It looks like the Kremlin will manage to ride out the wave of social protests surrounding the monetization of social benefits without having to sacrifice Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Meanwhile, the government is squabbling over what to do with the Stabilization Fund -- the excess... MORE
MOVEMENT TOWARD UNIFICATION OF PRO-YUSHCHENKO CAMP STALLS
Among the political goals announced by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is a plan to unify the political parties that comprise the "Our Ukraine" bloc into a single political party (Ukrayinska pravda, February 13). Yushchenko signed a "declaration of principles" regarding a new Our Ukraine party... MORE
LITHUANIA TO LEAD NATO UNIT IN AFGHANISTAN
Speaking at the high-level NATO conference in Munich on February 12-13, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld singled out for praise Lithuania's contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had similarly commended Lithuania's contribution to ISAF... MORE
GEORGIA UNDER GROWING RUSSIAN PRESSURE AHEAD OF BUSH-PUTIN SUMMIT
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov's imminent visit to Tbilisi appears designed for Washington's consumption ahead of the George W. Bush-Vladimir Putin summit on February 24. Moscow wishes to avoid discussion of its ongoing threats to Georgia during the summit. Lavrov may briefly put... MORE
ENTREPRENEURS STRIKE IN BELARUS
On February 10, entrepreneurs staged a one-day strike in various cities across Belarus to protest the introduction of a value-added tax (VAT). The authorities reacted by detaining strike leader Anatol Shumchanka, head of the public organization "Perspektiva," for a 10-day period. However, the businessmen have... MORE
GEORGIA’S NEW PRIME MINISTER COMES FROM ZHVANIA’S TEAM
The mysterious death of Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania did not trigger an immediate political crisis as feared, but the incident has drawn additional attention to the continuing backstage discord in the ruling party. President Mikheil Saakashvili had to take this intra-party drama into consideration... MORE
MOSCOW EYES ENERGY IMPLICATIONS OF NORTHEAST ASIA’S CHANGING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
As maneuvering continues around Russia's major oil and gas pipeline projects, Russian experts seek to clarify trends in the ongoing multilateral energy game. There appears to be a consensus that Siberia's hydrocarbon riches are set to become an important source of energy supplies for Northeast... MORE
MOSCOW MULTIPLYING EXTRANEOUS PRECONDITIONS TO TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM GEORGIA
After a two-year interruption and ten years of futile talks, another round of Russian-Georgian negotiations on the withdrawal of Russian troops was held in vain on February 10-11 in Tbilisi. The Russian side advanced conditions that amount to a refusal to withdraw its troops from... MORE
YUSHCHENKO MOVES TO CLEAN UP DONETSK, ENDING ITS COZY RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GOVERNMENT
On February 10 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko visited the heavily industrialized and densely populated Donetsk region, whose representative, Viktor Yanukovych, finished a disputed second in the 2004 presidential election. Yushchenko has been notoriously unpopular in Donetsk, scoring around 3% there both with his Our Ukraine... MORE
PRIMAKOV’S VISIT TO THE MIDDLE EAST: HIGH PROFILE, FEW RESULTS
In recent months, Moscow has launched several foreign policy initiatives as part of an effort to recapture something of its vanished influence in the Middle East. Since 1991 Russian officials have periodically claimed that Arab leaders have solicited Moscow's return to the region to counterbalance... MORE