
Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

Armenian-Azerbaijani Talks on Karabakh Appear Positive Even as Conflict Continues to Simmer Underneath
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan held four-hour-long consultations in Paris, on January 16, under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group. The joint statement to come out of the meeting included telling language. In particular, the... MORE

Syrian Experience Provides New Impetus for Russia’s UAV Strategy (Part One)
On January 21, Sergey Chemezov (the CEO of the Russian arms producer Rostec) announced that, by mid-2019, Russia’s Armed Forces would receive 200 units of Pishal “radio-electronic guns” and Ratnik multifunctional infantry combat systems—elements specifically designed to deal with enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Among... MORE

Russia’s Hybrid Strategy in the Sea of Azov: Divide and Antagonize (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan stated, on February 1, that “Russian’s most recent actions in the Sea of Azov have resulted in Ukraine losing $360 million” (RBC, February 1). The announcement pointedly contrasted with comments from several... MORE

Kadyrov Pushing for Highway From Chechnya Into Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge
Three factors have come together to explain Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s renewal of older Russian plans for the reconstruction of a highway from Chechnya into Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge (Kavkazsky Uzel, Fortanga.org, February 10): Kadyrov’s own desire to show himself as the defender of Chechens living... MORE

Moscow Orders Ground-Based Kalibr Cruise Missiles
Following the formal collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, on February 2, Moscow has ordered the Russian defense industry to create a ground-based version of the Kalibr cruise missile complex. The family of Kalibr sea- and air-launched cruise missiles (SLCM, ALCM), has... MORE

Belarus Explores Economic Opportunities in Zimbabwe
On January 17, the president of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, paid a state visit to Belarus, as part of his four-country Eurasian tour. Besides Minsk, the Zimbabwean delegation landed in Moscow, Almaty and Baku (Kommersant.ru, January 15). The African continent is not a new destination for... MORE

Comic Zelensky Emerges as Ukrainian Presidential Race leader
Less than two months out from election day on March 31, Ukraine has a new presidential race leader, comic Volodymyr Zelensky, recent opinion polls show. This must be an unpleasant surprise to both populist politician and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who had led all... MORE

Four Intrigues in Putin’s Support for Maduro
Russia has positioned itself as the main supporter of Nicholás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela, thus risking turning a crisis in a far-away country into an embarrassing political defeat. Official propaganda has amplified this issue. Yet, while 57 percent of Russian respondents in a recent poll... MORE

‘Monument Dispute’ Raises Tensions in South Caucasus
Over the past several decades, multiple disputes over historical monuments and the symbolism they carry have broken out across the post-Soviet region. Notably, Russia has vocally denounced the removal of any monument to “liberating Soviet soldiers” in other former Soviet states—most famously in Estonia and... MORE

Kazakhstan Looks to Russian Rivers as Outlets to Global Markets
Last week (February 2), the influential Russian news and commentary portal IA Rex featured a story headlined, “Kazakhstan Is Seriously Discussing Becoming a Sea Power.” To most readers, the article must have seemed extremely improbable or even to be “fake news” given that Kazakhstan is... MORE