
Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

Azerbaijan Makes Strategic Advances Along Karabakh’s Northern, Southern Flanks
On the morning of September 27, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense announced that Armenian forces in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan had attempted to attack Azerbaijani the positions; in response, Baku launched a large-scale counter-offensive up and down the Line of Contact (LoC) in Karabakh. Within... MORE

Putin’s Non-Starter in Arms Control Marks the Nadir of Russia’s Status
The virtual meeting of the Russian Security Council last Friday (October 16) started with a surprise meant to signify a major foreign policy initiative. Namely, President Vladimir Putin instructed Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to present to the leadership of the United States with the suggestion... MORE

Competition Among Ports in the Caspian Sea and the Significance of the Port of Baku
On July 29, the Russian government issued an order concerning plans for the development of federal transport, railway, information and communications infrastructure that includes the construction of Port Lagan, in the Republic of Kalmykia (Portnews.ru, August 3). The idea to establish a port in Kalmykia... MORE

General Electric Subsidiary to Provide Russian LNG Project With Key Equipment
The poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny caused an uproar in the international community, even leading to debates inside Germany about whether to punish Moscow by canceling the Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline (see EDM, September 21). While the fate of Gazprom’s multi-billion-dollar... MORE

Russia’s Interests in Belarus: Ends and Means (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. Regime change via constitutional reform is Moscow’s chosen avenue toward its goal in Belarus: turning the country into a satellite of Russia, stopping short of outright incorporation (see Part One in EDM, October 15). At this stage, however,... MORE

Turkey Transfers Drone Warfare Capacity to Its Ally Azerbaijan
During the fierce clashes along the Karabakh front, which erupted on September 27, Azerbaijan demonstrated advanced drone warfare capabilities, showcasing its defense-technological edge over Armenian forces. Interestingly, the Azerbaijani drone campaign strongly resembled Turkey’s Operation Spring Shield against the Syrian Arab Army back in early... MORE

New Pro-Russia ‘Party’ in Belarus Less Than It Appears
Moscow-based commentators have long complained about the paucity of pro-Russia political parties in the former Soviet republics, especially around the time of elections or periods of instability there or when the Russian government has a specific agenda it hopes to promote in those countries. Consequently,... MORE

Russia’s Interests in Belarus: Ends and Means (Part One)
Russia is not pursuing an “Anschluss” with Belarus. Rather, it aims to curtail Belarus’s external and internal sovereignty in the foreign policy, military, economic, and domestic institutional realms, stopping short of a political union of Russia and Belarus. The outcome would not amount to an... MORE

The Kremlin Is Contingency Planning for a Biden Presidency
The Russian state TV propaganda machine continues to ridicule Democratic Party presidential contender Joseph Biden and promoting the incumbent, Donald Trump, portrayed as strong and full of energy after overcoming his bout with the COVID-19 coronavirus (Vesti, October 13). The message to the Russian public... MORE

Belarusian Government Reckons With Two Months of Protests
Over nine weeks since the disputed Belarusian presidential election, and three weeks since President Alyaksandr Lukashenka held a secret inauguration ceremony, large street demonstrations in the country continue unabated. In the opinion of Gennady Korshunov, a former director of the Belarusian Institute of Sociology (he... MORE