![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/EDM_draft_banner2.jpg)
Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bolhrad-school-640x357.jpg)
Bulgaria Takes Issue With Ukraine Over Minority in Odesa Province
The parliament of Bulgaria has adopted a declaration criticizing Ukraine’s policy toward the Bulgarian minority in Odesa province (see EDM, May 26). This move might seem to indicate that Bulgaria is about to emulate Hungary or Romania, each of which, in its own way (Hungary... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Iran-Caspian-fleet-640x356.jpg)
Iran Expanding Its Naval Presence in the Caspian
Western analysts tend to focus on the Iranian navy almost exclusively in terms of its ability to harass or block oil tankers coming through the Strait of Hormuz, an understandable perspective given the danger that Iran could disorder world oil markets if it was successful... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Russia-Open-Skies.jpg)
Washington Pulls out of Open Skies Treaty, Distressing Allies but Pleasing Moscow
President Donald Trump announced, on May 21, that the United States would be withdrawing from the 1992 Treaty on Open Skies, which permits reciprocated surveillance overflights of participating members’ military facilities as a confidence-building measure. The treaty depositary countries (Canada and Hungary) were sent official... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Victor-Babariko.jpg)
Belarus’s Presidential Race Seemingly Heats Up
Considering how front and center and ever present the novel coronavirus pandemic has been for months on end, it is rather stunning how the start of the presidential race in Belarus has managed, within only a week, to locally sideline news of the health crisis.... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Ramzan-Kadyrov-640x360.jpg)
Will Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov Survive Hospitalization in Moscow?
On May 21, mainstream Russian news agencies broke the story of the hospitalization of Chechnya’s strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov. These media outlet’s sources revealed that Kadyrov was flown from Grozny to Moscow on suspicion of his having contracted the novel coronavirus responsible for causing COVID-19. They... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Putin-and-Shoigu-640x427.jpg)
Shoigu’s Image of Russia’s Armed Forces: Mobile, Modern and Efficient
May 21 marked the understated birthday celebration of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, already the longest serving in the post since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But the occasion also unexpectedly provided a public forum for a discussion of the current direction of the... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Azerbaijan-digital-hub-640x376.jpg)
The Increasing Role of Azerbaijan as a Regional Digital Hub
On April 10, the Azerbaijani parliament ratified and President Ilham Aliyev approved a law for laying a trans-Caspian fiber-optic cable across the bottom of the Caspian Sea between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan (President.az, April 10). The initial interstate agreement—“On the Organization of Activities by Communications Operators... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Anton-Kisse.jpg)
Moscow Orchestrates Controversy Between Bulgaria and Ukraine to Weaken Kyiv
Last week (May 20), pro-Russian legislative deputies in Bulgaria and pro-Moscow ethnic-Bulgarian politicians in Ukraine protested a decision by the Ukrainian government to redraw administrative borders in Odesa Oblast. The Kremlin-leaning ethnic-Bulgarians who expressed their objection said the move was intended to divide their more-than-200,000-strong... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Hyundai-LNG-carrier-construction-640x360.gif)
The Asian Tigers in Russia’s Arctic: Unforeseen Favorites?
A number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region are looking at the Arctic as a potential engine to drive dramatic transformations in their most strategically important economic sectors, including energy, transportation, as well as research and development (Pro-arctic.ru, April 24). Aside from the three Asian... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Russian-MiG-29-in-Libya-AFRICOM.jpg)
Russia’s Multiplying Foreign Policy Constraints
In the last few weeks, Russia has been too busy with the domestic explosion of COVID-19 cases to properly attend to foreign policy matters; but the lack of interest in Moscow to the session of the Chinese National People’s Congress, which opened in Beijing last... MORE