Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
GAZPROM FIRMING UP ITS HOLD ON CENTRAL ASIAN GAS
Interviewed in the current issue of the journal Gazprom, the company's Vice-Chairman Alexander Ryazanov announces the imminent creation of a Russian-Kazakh joint venture to process gas from Kazakhstan in Russia. Gazprom and Kazakhstan's oil and gas state company, KazMunayGaz have agreed to supply gas from... MORE
ERKINBAYEV’S ASSASSINATION PROVOKES CONTROVERSY IN KYRGYZSTAN
On September 21, Bayaman Erkinbayev, a member of the Kyrgyz parliament with alleged ties to criminal groups, was shot dead in central Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital. His murder is the third political assassination in Kyrgyzstan since the March 24 Tulip Revolution. The National Security Service... MORE
RUSSIA OFFERS “QUALITY” MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO KYRGYZSTAN
As part of an effort to cement Moscow's relations with newly elected Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has offered a significant increase in the quality of bilateral military assistance Russia's affords to the country. Ivanov's comments were made ahead of his... MORE
UNPRECEDENTED UZBEK-RUSSIAN JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE HELD
On September 21-23, for the first time since 1991, Uzbekistan hosted a joint military exercise with Russian troops on its territory. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Islam Karimov ordered the holding of the exercise in their capacity as commanders-in-chief, and Defense Ministers Sergei Ivanov and Kadyr... MORE
QUESTION MARKS MULTIPLY AFTER RUSSIAN PLANE CRASH IN LITHUANIA
Moscow is stonewalling Lithuania's ongoing investigation into the September 15 crash of a Russian Air Force Su-27 fighter jet deep inside Lithuania (see EDM, September 20). Russian military and political authorities ignore or evade Lithuania's questions about Russian radar data on the plane's flight path,... MORE
UKRAINE’S PRIME MINISTER: QUIET MAN IN, FIERY LADY OUT
In the person of Yuriy Yekhanurov, who Ukraine's parliament approved as new prime minister on September 22, President Viktor Yushchenko has acquired a quiet professional who should run the economy while Yushchenko will tackle constitutional reform and next year's parliamentary race. Yekhanurov shares Yushchenko's vision... MORE
IN GREAT HASTE KHODORKOVSKY FOUND GUILTY, GETS ONE YEAR LESS THAN SENTENCED
Late in the evening of September 22, the Moscow city court announced its verdict on the appeal to revisit the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, who had been sentenced to nine years in jail by the Meshchansky district court. Normally, such appeals drag... MORE
LANDMARK AFGHAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION GOES SMOOTHLY
On September 18, Afghanistan completed the last stage of the Bonn Agreements. Parliamentary elections held that Sunday were hailed as a success. The Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) has announced the official start of the next phase -- counting the votes in the parliamentary and... MORE
RUSSIA WARY OF POSSIBLE WATER DISPUTE WITH CHINA
Russian regional officials, water management experts, and media have reiterated their earlier warnings that Russia could suffer economic and ecological damage as a result of Beijing's plans to siphon off some of the waters of the Irtysh River into western China. Notably, Izvestiya ran an... MORE
KREMLIN HOPES LEADERSHIP CHANGE WILL IMPROVE SITUATION IN KABARDINO-BALKARIA
On September 16 Dmitry Kozak, the Russian presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, announced that Valery Kokov, president of the Kabardino-Balkaria republic, had resigned due to poor health. Kokov had led the region for 14 years, first as the local Communist boss in Soviet... MORE