Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
ISLAMIST NAMED FORMAL HEAD OF CHECHEN RESISTANCE
Observers in Russia and elsewhere continue to mull the significance of the March 8 killing of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov. Meanwhile, Maskhadov's London-based emissary, Akhmed Zakaev, said in a statement that the rebel leadership had agreed back in July-August 2002 that should the separatist... MORE
RIFT BETWEEN MOSCOW AND BALTIC STATES: IS IT ALL ABOUT HISTORY?
The presidents of Estonia and Lithuania have refused invitations to attend the May 9 ceremonies in Moscow celebrating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. This move marks the climax of the ongoing "battle over history" between Moscow and the Baltic countries... MORE
JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER DECLINES INVITATION TO MOSCOW VE-DAY CELEBRATION
Russo-Japanese relations appear to have digressed back to the zero-sum, tit-for-tat, tenor that defined the relationship throughout the Cold War. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced on Thursday, March 10, that he would not attend the VE- Day celebrations to be held in Moscow this... MORE
WILL MELNYCHENKO TAPES BE USED AS EVIDENCE IN GONGADZE PROSECUTION?
As an Interior Ministry colonel confesses to the murder of opposition journalist and Ukrayinska pravda founder Heorhiy Gongadze, one major issue remains; namely what evidence will the courts accept? (Segodnya, March 9) Former presidential guard Mykola Melnychenko secretly recorded 700 hours of tapes in President... MORE
DAGESTAN SECURITY OFFICIALS SEARCH FOR TRAITORS IN THEIR RANKS
A recent police search of insurgents in Dagestan turned up a list of the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of more than 100 security officials in the North Caucasus republic. The discovery has sent chills through the republic's leadership and indicate the rebel's increasing pressure... MORE
PROMINENT EDITOR MURDERED IN AZERBAIJAN, RUMORS SWIRL ABOUT POSSIBLE SHOOTERS
On March 2, Elmar Huseynov, editor of the popular weekly Monitor, was shot to death while returning home in Baku around 7 pm. Politicians and ordinary citizens alike were horrified by the violent attack on the 37-year old journalist. President Ilham Aliev immediately convened a... MORE
AFGHAN GOVERNMENT MOVES TO NEUTRALIZE KEY WARLORD
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has appointed General Abdur Rashid Dostum as his Chief of Staff for Military Affairs. The appointment is seen as appealing to ethnic Uzbek demands to have a stronger say in the government. General Dostum was previously military advisor to the president... MORE
MOSCOW LOOKS TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS AS CHEAP WAY TO FILL ITS ARSENAL
Russia's nuclear policy has once again become the stuff of controversy. On the one hand, domestic right-wingers, darkly suspicious of rumored U.S.-Russian agreements to put Russia's nuclear arsenal under some form of American supervision or control, are attacking the regime for selling out Russian sovereignty... MORE
PROTESTORS CLOSE KYRGYZSTAN’S MAJOR TRANSPORTATION ROUTES
The situation in Kyrgyzstan remains very tense following its disputed February 27 parliamentary elections. News reports about massive protest demonstrations organized by the opposition continue to pour in from across the country. In Naryn, a city in central Kyrgyzstan, approximately 600 protesters have been continuously... MORE
YUSHCHENKO CREATES NEW PARTY OF POWER
On March 4-5, President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc transformed itself into a political party, the People's Union "Our Ukraine." The original boc was formed after parliament's April 2001 no-confidence vote removed Yushchenko's government. The bloc, consisting of 10 liberal and center-right parties, came first... MORE