Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
YUSHCHENKO ELECTION COALITION DIVIDED OVER ROLE FOR LYTVYN
As the Ukrainian parliament adjourns today for its summer recess, Western observers are increasingly noting the divisions inside President Viktor Yushchenko's team. However, such commentaries typically focus on the wrong divisions. In a report entitled, "Political Rivalries Threaten Ukraine's Reforms," the Financial Times (July 4)... MORE
ATTACKS INCREASE IN DAGESTAN, BUT OFFICIALS REMAIN SILENT
Rebel attacks in Dagestan are becoming more frequent and more intense. Early on Saturday, June 25, yet another police car was bombed in Makhachkala. The patrol car was attacked as it passed a gas station on the outskirts of the capital. Barely 15 minutes later,... MORE
TYMOSHENKO EMBROILED IN DISPUTE BETWEEN TYCOONS
A shadow has been cast on the integrity of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, as two "oligarchs" vie for control over a lucrative steel business. For the past several weeks the Ukrainian media has been rife with a rumor saying that the Dnipropetrovsk-based Privat group... MORE
BEIJING MOVES TO INCREASE INFLUENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA
Chinese President Hu Jintao made his second visit to Kazakhstan July 3-6, ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and after a visit to Moscow. The high point of the mini-summit was the signing of a Chinese-Kazakh Strategic Partnership agreement. President Hu reiterated his "anti-terrorism"... MORE
MAJOR RUSSIA-KAZAKHSTAN OIL PRODUCTION-SHARING AGREEMENT SIGNED
On July 6 in Astana, Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan witnessed the signing of a production-sharing agreement on Kazakhstan's Kurmangazy offshore oilfield. State oil company Rosneft President Sergei Bogdanchikov signed the agreement for the Russian side; Kazakhstan's Energy and Mineral... MORE
SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION SUMMIT SUGGESTS NEW RUSSIA-CHINA LINKS
As the six Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members gathered Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, on July 5, the summit meeting seemingly adopted a measure of anti-Western rhetoric. The SCO states (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan) not only suggested that the U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan... MORE
SCO ASKS WASHINGTON TO SET DATE FOR WITHDRAWAL OF FORCES
The presidents of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan -- member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- held a summit of the SCO on July 5 in Astana. Their joint declaration requests the U.S.-led anti-terrorist coalition forces to set a date for leaving... MORE
PUTIN’S MÉNAGE À TROIS IN KALININGRAD
Over the weekend of July 3-4, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted French President Jacques Chirac and German Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder for a summit in Kaliningrad, supposedly to celebrate the city's 750th anniversary. Putin conspicuously declined to invite Polish and Lithuanian leaders to this event,... MORE
THE PRESIDENTIAL VERTICAL ECONOMY AND THE OIL SHOWER
Russian economic policy has never been so entertaining as in recent weeks, particularly in comparison with the dull and monotonous political discourse. Every weekly meeting of the government delivers a new verbal clash of economic titans often sparkling with rich metaphors. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN PREPARED TO USE FORCE AGAINST “REVOLUTIONARIES”
The authorities in Kazakhstan, reacting carefully and deliberately, are preparing security agencies to use force in the event of revolutionary activity similar to events in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. It is predictable that the regime of President Nursultan Nazarbayev should choose to flex its muscles in... MORE