Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

PUTIN SETS NEW GOALS FOR RUSSIA’S NATIONAL IDENTITY

At the core of its national identity, Russia is neither a nuclear super-power nor a spoiled petro-state, but a country of hopeless football fans. The Soviet leadership sought to measure athletic prowess by the total number of Olympic medals and ice hockey in particular, but... MORE

WHY YANUKOVYCH LOST ROUND ONE AND WHY HE WILL LOSE IN ROUND TWO

Five days after the election, the final results are still not declared in Ukraine's presidential election. Nevertheless, as opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko declared: "Whatever the authorities might say to us," he won the first round. "And, in the second round we shall finalize this victory,"... MORE

MOSCOW DEFYING OSCE ON THE DEMOCRACY FRONT

Russia has enlisted its supporters among CIS countries to oppose the OSCE's election-monitoring missions and contradict OSCE election assessments. This Russian policy is not in itself new, but was reactive and mostly pro-forma until now. It turned proactive and brazenly aggressive in the parliamentary elections... MORE

TURKMENISTAN’S NEUTRALITY AND RUSSIA’S NEW SOUTHERN POLICY

Turkmenistan's official foreign policy of "positive neutrality" is facing new challenges as Russia continues the drive for greater influence over Central Asian affairs. The Turkmen policy of neutrality, announced by President Saparmurat Niyazov shortly after the country became independent in 1991, has successfully enabled the... MORE

YUSHCHENKO WINS FIRST ROUND OF UKRAINE’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Challenger Viktor Yushchenko won the first round of the Ukrainian presidential elections on October 31 (Itar-Tass, November 2). According to official Central Election Commission (CEC) figures, Yushchenko won 16 oblasts and the city of Kyiv. Besides sweeping western Ukraine, Yushchenko won the whole of central... MORE

UKRAINIAN TV JOURNALISTS PROTEST CENSORSHIP

Attempts by President Leonid Kuchma's administration to silence dissenting opinions on television ran into resistance at a decisive moment in the presidential election campaign. Journalists from most of Ukraine's nation-wide TV channels have vocally protested efforts to muzzle free expression just a few of days... MORE

KAZAKHSTAN EXTRADITES SUSPECTED ISLAMIC MILITANT TO UZBEKISTAN

According to Kazakhstanskaya pravda, officials from the Committee for National Security (KNB) for South Kazakhstan blast extradited Odillkhon Mominov, a citizen of Uzbekistan, back to his homeland. Tashkent wanted Mominov "for his participation in illegal extremist religious organizations of the Wahhabite orientation." According to the... MORE

DAGESTAN: FIGHTING CLANS AND ADVANCING ISLAMISTS

With more than 100 ethnic groups in the republic, Dagestan has a quite complicated structure of government. The republic is ruled by the State Council, in which all major indigenous ethnic groups are equally represented. Members of the State Council and deputies to the republican... MORE