Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
Belarus’s Election Campaign: The Calm Before the Storm?
The end of June marked the beginning of a (likely brief) respite in Belarus’s presidential election campaign, but it may prove to be the lull before the storm. After the elimination of former deputy foreign minister and Minsk High-Tech Park founder Valery Tsepkalo’s candidacy because... MORE
Murders of Chechen Refugees in Europe Become Increasingly Frequent
Another critic of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow ruler Ramzan Kadyrov was killed in Austria. On the evening of July 4, the man was shot in the head and died in a parking lot next to a shopping center in the Vienna suburb of Gerasdorf. Initially, reports said... MORE
Latent Russian Dissatisfaction: On the Explicit and Hidden Implications of Putin’s Constitutional Reform
The newly approved amendments to the Russian constitution went into force on July 4. The night before, President Vladimir Putin signed the relevant executive order. According to official data, in the elections, which took place on July 1, the amendments received the support of 77.92... MORE
Ukraine to Decide Whether to Buy US LNG
On May 27, the Ukrainian government preliminarily approved the text of a memorandum on the prospects for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States. The document must still be signed by the Ukrainian side and the US company involved, the Lafayette-based Louisiana Natural... MORE
Could the ‘Norilsk Disaster’ Be the Harbinger of a Looming Catastrophe in the Russian Arctic? (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. A disastrous fuel spill at the CHPP-3 combined heat and power plant in Norilsk (owned and operated by the Norilsk Nickel Group) has resulted in massive contamination of the local environment and will likely incur huge financial... MORE
Kremlin Exploiting Reports GRU Paid Taliban to Kill US Soldiers
The Russian government continues to deny news accounts that its security forces paid the Taliban to kill members of the United States Armed Forces stationed in Afghanistan; but at the same time, Moscow has exploited these reports at home to generate support for the Kremlin.... MORE
China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Road-Rail Connection Launched Amid Violent Border Clashes
China and Uzbekistan have opened a new transport corridor between one other, which could eventually form a key link in a much shorter inter-continental route connecting China to the Middle East and Europe. Tashkent trusts that the new corridor complements rather than competes with already-established... MORE
Rail Baltica Moves Ahead but Suffers From Major Construction Delays
The multinational Rail Baltica project, which had been in the planning and design stages since 2014, finally entered the phase of actual construction of the railway line and related infrastructure objects at the beginning of last year (Railbaltica.org, accessed June 30). Work is already underway... MORE
Turkey Makes Strides in Diversifying Its Natural Gas Imports
For two months in a row this past spring, during March and April, Azerbaijan surpassed Russia in delivering natural gas supplies to Turkey (Hellenic Shipping News, June 2). At the same time, Turkey’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports have also been skyrocketing, with LNG suppliers... MORE
Scant Foreign Policy Choices for a Troubled and Divided Russia
For months, and particularly during the end of June and start of July, Russian politics was centered on ensuring the desired result in the vote on the set of amendments to the constitution. By resorting to crude manipulations and fraud, President Vladimir Putin secured his... MORE