Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

East Versus West In Lithuania

On June 22, five days before the Lithuanian presidential election runoff, the government's Special Investigations Service (SIS) raided the offices of four political parties, seized financial and other documents, and announced "corruption" indictments against five politicians from those parties. The four parties are: Social-Democrats, led... MORE

Saakashvili Strengthens Control Over Ajaria

The pro-governmental "Saakashvili-Victorious Ajaria" party, the Ajarian branch of the ruling "National-Movement-Democrats," scored a landside victory in the June 20 elections in Ajaria. The elections were the first to be held following the downfall of Aslan Abashidze's authoritarian rule. The party received 75% of votes,... MORE

Unrest In South Waziristan Tied To Wider Islamic Agenda

There are fears that tribal insurgency in South Waziristan is connected to wider terrorist activity elsewhere in Pakistan. The June 17 killing of pro-Taliban tribal leader Nek Mohammad, presumably with US technical help, has added more fuel to the fire of extremist Islamic militancy in... MORE

Eyewitnesses Say Ingushetia Attackers Were Mostly Locals

While the numbers are still preliminary, Russian news agencies early on June 23 quoted a source in Ingushetia's Interior Ministry as saying that 57 people were killed in attacks launched simultaneously by armed guerrillas across Ingushetia. The attacks, which began on the evening of June... MORE

Osce In Moldova: Showing The Flag For What It’s Worth

A delegation of 27 Vienna-based ambassadors to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from member countries visited Moldova on June 9-12. This unprecedented, mass descent was followed by the visit of OSCE's Chairman-in-Office for 2004, Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Minister Solomon Passy, in... MORE

Russia Signs Strategic Partnership With Uzbekistan

On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tashkent, June 16-17, a historic agreement was signed between Russia and Uzbekistan, which paves the way towards closer bilateral cooperation, as well as potentially undermining the significance of the role of the U.S. Russian... MORE

Uzbekistan Looks Toward Russia

The Uzbekistan population is receptive to the idea of returning Russia to Uzbekistan as an investor and strategic partner. A recent poll conducted in the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent clearly indicated that people from diverse socio-economic groups and different ethnic backgrounds view the meeting between... MORE

The Fall Of Ghor: An Omnious Development For Karzai

On June 17, Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor province in northwestern Afghanistan fell to the hands of a renegade commander Abdul Salam. The governor appointed by the central government has fled for his life. This is the third time in as many months that an... MORE

Russia Turning Back The Clock On Georgian Policy

On June 21, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told military journalists that Russia would only withdraw its troops from the Batumi and Akhalkalaki bases after receipt of US$300 million in "cost-offsets." This amount is a throwback to Moscow's opening gambits in earlier stages of negotiations,... MORE

Russia Launches Large-scale Military Exercises

A historic large-scale Russian military exercise is currently in progress, testing the ability of the armed forces to deploy high-readiness and reserve units rapidly across Russian territory. The operational strategic military exercise, codenamed Mobility 2004, began at 0800 (Moscow time) on June 9, with three... MORE