Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
SECESSIONIST LEADERS HOLD “MINISTERIAL” TALKS, PREPARE “SUMMIT”
The self-styled "ministers of foreign affairs" of Transnistria and Abkhazia, Valery Litskay and Sergei Shamba, along with South Ossetia's "permanent representative" to Russia, Dmitry Medoev, held a tripartite meeting and talks with Russian officials on April 3-4 in Moscow. On March 30, Transnistria's "president" Igor... MORE
MOLDOVA’S VORONIN REELECTED PRESIDENT WITH BROAD DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT
On April 4, Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin was reelected to a second four-year term by an unprecedented -- indeed, until now, unthinkable -- political alliance, ranging from his Communist Party to right-wing Christian-Democrats and right-of-center Social-Liberals. This informal alliance defeated Moscow's goal of unseating Voronin.... MORE
AKAYEV OFFICIALLY RESIGNS WHILE KULOV DECLARES CANDIDACY FOR PRESIDENT
Although the mass lootings in Bishkek have ended, Kyrgyzstan's political crisis is not over. The legacy of Askar Akayev's regime is patently apparent as the new government begins to revise the ownership status of the country's major businesses. At the same time, more and more... MORE
AZERBAIJAN’S ALIEV SEEKS POLISH HELP FOR EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
After visits to Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev reversed course and paid a visit to a European country -- Poland -- on March 30. The trip refuted speculations that Azerbaijan was gradually shifting its foreign policy course towards the East. The... MORE
SAAKASHVILI AND NAZARBAYEV TURN NEW PAGE IN KAZAKH-GEORGIAN RELATIONS
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili made his first visit to Kazakhstan on March 31, marking a new, post-Shevardnadze era in Kazakh-Georgian relations. The young and beaming Saakashvili, a child of the Rose Revolution, sitting together with his aging Kazakh counterpart, a lingering shadow from the communist... MORE
YUSHCHENKO VISIT TO U.S. HERALDS RETURN TO “GOLDEN ERA”
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's official visit to the United States on April 4-6 is set to radically transform U.S.-Ukrainian relations and return them to the "golden era" under President Bill Clinton. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst predicted, "We expect not only the revival of... MORE
BEREZOVSKY THREATENS TO OPEN PANDORA’S BOX CREATED BY FUGITIVE UKRAINIAN BODYGUARD
Russian emigre tycoon Boris Berezovsky claims that he has the tape recordings made by Mykola Melnychenko, the fugitive former bodyguard of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, in Kuchma's office in 1999-2000. Many observers believe the recordings may shed light on the murder of journalist Heorhiy... MORE
THE NORTH CAUCASUS SLIPS OUT OF CONTROL
The collapse of Askar Akayev's regime in Kyrgyzstan, so similar to the events in Georgia or Ajaria, has reinvigorated the debates simmering in Moscow since the Orange Revolution in Kyiv: Is a revolution, preferably of a "velvet" kind, possible in Russia? Opinions are heavily on... MORE
RISKS IN GEORGIA’S JAVAKHETI PROVINCE CAN BE DEFUSED
Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Robert Kocharian of Armenia met informally on April 1-2 in the Georgian mountain resort of Gudauri, without media coverage. Their agenda included the situation in Akhalkalaki, where two recent rallies by local Armenian residents aired political and economic demands,... MORE
RUSSIA’S POLITICAL CLASS IS SPLIT OVER HOW TO PROCEED WITH INTEGRATION OF POST-SOVIET SPACE
Contradictory Kremlin statements on the possible fate of the Commonwealth of Independent States (see EDM, March 31) reflect the strategic confusion among Russian policymakers and pundits about the country's policy toward its neighbors in the post-Soviet lands. As the waves of "colored revolutions" sweep across... MORE