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Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
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Romania’s Danube Flotilla: An Unparalleled Capability on NATO’s Southeastern Flank (Part One)
The Danube is the second-longest river in Europe and one of its main transport and communication routes. In terms of economic value, only the Rhine River is more important for the overall European economy. This fact is underscored by the building of the Rhine–Main–Danube canal,... MORE
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Ukrainian Espionage Incident Highlights Ongoing Russian Naval Shortcomings
Russian-Ukrainian relations, increasingly tense since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, plummeted to a new low after Russia’s forcible absorption of the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and subsequent invasion of Donbas. On March 18, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Sevastopol, home of... MORE
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Facing Grave Emergency, Putin Dodges Responsibility
President Vladimir Putin’s second address to the nation on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, delivered last Thursday (April 2), was as brief as his first one, given a week prior—and equally unsatisfactory in style and substance (see EDM, April 2). Wearing what looked like the same... MORE
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Indispensable Oligarchs: Ukraine Turns to Business Leaders to Support Anti-Coronavirus Efforts
Ukraine’s top businessmen are answering President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call to assist and even lead the country’s efforts to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic. Zelenskyy had summoned Ukraine’s wealthiest businessmen for an emergency meeting on March 16 in the presidential building to consider a coordinated... MORE
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The COVID-19 Pandemic Starts to Have Its Toll on the North Caucasus
COVID-19 has now started to spread to Russia’s North Caucasus republics, and regional authorities have been scrambling to mobilize scant resources to stave off the pandemic. As of March 30, officials confirmed infections in Adygea, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, as well as Krasnodar and Stavropol regions. The... MORE
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With Ever More Flights Canceled, Many Parts of Russia Isolated
In mid-March, the Russian media was celebrating the fact that air service had been restored to a part of rural Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, a federal subject in the Russian Far East, that had not seen any civilian planes for 25 years. Since then, however, many... MORE
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The Kremlin Delegates Unpopular Closedown Measures to Governors
The chief surgeon of the main Russian coronavirus medical facility on the outskirts of Moscow, in Kommunarka, Denis Protsenko (44), has contracted COVID-19 and is in seclusion within his own facility (RIA Novosti, March 31). On March 24, Protsenko was in close contact with President... MORE
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Lukashenka Comes Under Widespread Fire for Lax COVID-19 Response
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has come under growing public pressure and international criticism for not undertaking the types of pervasive quarantine and mobility restriction policies to limit the spread of COVID-19 that had become de rigueur across most of the West. On March 27, the Belarusian... MORE
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Problems in the Ukrainian Military Food-Supply System: Coronavirus or Symptom of Slowdown in Reforms?
On March 1, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (MOD) reported that all combat units and some small garrisons (indirectly involved in Joint Forces operations) of the Armed Forces switched to a new meal and food-supply system. The poor quality of soldiers’ meal packs has long... MORE
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Moscow Enhances Artillery Firepower in Kaliningrad
Since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, it has gradually reinforced its military presence in Kaliningrad, frequently portraying these measures as a response to increased North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) activity close to Russia’s borders. A key component in this process has been to boost... MORE