Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
Minsk Wages Diplomatic War on Multiple Fronts
On April 4, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka proposed to “optimize” the number of Belarusian embassies and their staff around the world. Essentially, the Belarusian leader declared, if Belarus’s “diplomatic presence” in some countries has no “prospects” because of a minuscule volume of mutual trade and/or because... MORE
Russia Builds up Its Export Potential in Baltic Basin
Russian natural gas giant Gazprom signed a preliminary agreement with global engineering company Linde to deliver engineering and procurement services for the Ust-Luga gas processing plant on the Baltic Sea. Gazprom CEO Miller signed the agreement on behalf of RusKhimAlyans, a special-purpose company established on... MORE
Penned in on Multiple International Issues, Putin Strives to Show Resolve on Ukraine
Putting military pressure on Ukraine could have seemed to the Russian leadership to be the most practical way to assert Moscow’s central role in international affairs. The standard working assumption in the Kremlin is that facing a risk of violent conflict, the disunited West would... MORE
Prospect of Cooperation With Russia on Nuclear Power Plant Clouds Uzbekistan’s More Immediate Energy Needs
During a recent (March 24) government meeting dedicated to upgrading Uzbekistan’s energy infrastructure, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced that, in 2021 alone, over $1.1 billion would be allocated to upgrading the country’s ineffective and outdated electricity grid and crumbling natural gas distribution system. Energy Minister Alisher... MORE
Moscow Struggles to Improve and Extend Siberian Railways to Preserve China Trade
Moscow has long wanted to develop its railway network east of the Urals, both to promote the development of that largely road-less region and to expand the export of raw materials like coal. Those two factors continue to be important, but they have been joined... MORE
Tensions Escalate in Donbas and on Ukrainian Border
Increasingly deadly skirmishes between Moscow-backed “separatist” forces and the Ukrainian military in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas have claimed the lives of dozens of combatants and civilians since January 1. The ceasefire agreement arranged in July 2020 has largely collapsed. Yet despite intermittent clashes,... MORE
Is Turkmenistan’s President Berdimuhamedov Grooming His Son to Succeed Him?
Three decades after the implosion of the Soviet Union, Kremlinology remains a useful tool for evaluating political developments in many former Soviet republics—perhaps nowhere more so than Turkmenistan, where opacity is such that even Russian specialists find it difficult to discern the reality behind political... MORE
The State of Disunion in Belarus
The key descriptor for Belarusian society at the moment may be “disintegration.” Namely, Belarusians appear not to see eye to eye on three major issues. One is their attitude toward President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s leadership and legitimacy. The second is geopolitical lean: whether toward Russia or... MORE
Gazprom Struggles With Its Mega LNG Project in the Baltic Sea
On March 15, Russia’s leading business news outlet, Kommersant, revealed that Gazprom hit another obstacle in realizing its anticipated mega-project in the Baltic Sea—“Baltic LNG.” According to the article, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor responsible for the investment has either been dismissed or... MORE
Russian Influence in Montenegro Could Create a Threat for NATO’s Information Security
A scandal erupted in Montenegro at the end of March: the head of the Balkan country’s National Security Agency (ANB), Dejan Vukšić, was charged with revealing secret information during a March 19 closed-door session of the parliament’s (Skupština) Security and Defense Committee. Committee member Raško... MORE