
Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
BALTIC ANCHORS TO THE BLACK SEA
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his ministerial team wound up a visit to the three Baltic states on October 15. Their tour highlighted both an accelerating process and an incipient one. The first is Georgia's Euro-Atlantic course, re-energized by the new president and Western-trained cabinet... MORE
BELARUS REFERENDUM RESULTS DISPUTED
Belarusian citizens went to the polls on October 17 to elect a new parliament and to take part in a referendum on whether President Alexander Lukashenka should be permitted to amend the constitution and run for a third term in office. The official results provided... MORE
BORODIN PREDICTS A REFERENDUM TO EXTEND PUTIN’S TERM
The idea that Russian President Vladimir Putin should stay on beyond his second and last constitutionally mandated term was given fresh expression yesterday (October 19) by Pavel Borodin, state secretary of the still largely notional Russia-Belarus Union. Borodin, the former Kremlin property department chief who... MORE
UKRAINIAN LEADERS CRACK DOWN ON YOUTH GROUPS AHEAD OF ELECTION
On October 15 Ukrainian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych told foreign diplomats in Kyiv that the government is taking all measures to ensure a free and fair election on October 31 (Ukrayinska pravda, October 15). Officials will ensure observance of the rule of... MORE
RUSSIA TAKING OVER TAJIKISTAN’S MAIN ECONOMIC ENTITIES
Visiting Tajikistan on October 16-17 to mark the ratification and entry into force of a military basing agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin observed that relations with Tajikistan exemplified Russia's "comprehensive approach" to dealing with post-Soviet countries. That approach entails coordination of the military-security and economic... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN PARLIAMENTARY LEADER RESIGNS IN PROTEST
The Speaker of the Kazakhstan Majilis, the lower house of the Kazakhstan Parliament, announced his resignation on October 18 in protest over what he termed crude violations of electoral process in Kazakhstan's September parliamentary elections. Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, who went public with his complaints of executive... MORE
ASTANA OFFERS CLUMSY EXPLANATIONS FOR BANNING “TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS”
On October 15 the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan banned activities by al-Qaeda, the Islamic Party of East Turkestan, the Kurdish People's Congress, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Law enforcement sources did not give plausible explanations for singling out these particular organizations as forces threatening... MORE
REMOVAL OF UK AMBASSADOR IN UZBEKISTAN RAISES QUESTIONS OVER WAR ON TERROR
The removal of Craig Murray, the United Kingdom's ambassador to Uzbekistan, has emerged as the culmination of a series of events linked to his critique of the government of Uzbekistan. The actual causes belli centered upon allegations Murray made in an internal memo circulated within... MORE
RUSSIAN ARMY BASE IN TAJIKISTAN LEGALIZED; BORDER TROOPS TO WITHDRAW
On October 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the now legal Russian military base in Tajikistan. One day earlier in Dushanbe, Putin and Tajikistan President Imomali Rakhmonov exchanged the instruments of ratification for the April 1999 agreement that conferred basing rights on the Russian Army... MORE
BESLAN’S TRAGIC END: SPONTANEOUS OR PLANNED?
More than one month has now passed since the tragedy in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, but what really happened there is still subject to debate. When the hostages crisis ended with hundreds dead, Russian authorities tried their best to assure the outside world... MORE