Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

Putin’s Jubilee Finds Him Clueless, Isolated and Ridiculed

President Vladimir Putin quietly celebrated his 60th birthday on October 7 behind the high walls of one of his residences. But his minions, viceroys and oligarchs across the country are trying to outdo one another with gifts and other manifestations of loyalty (RBC Daily, October... MORE

Belarus’s Foreign Policy: Twists and Turns

Minsk received bad news and good news this week concerning its foreign policy allies. Shortly after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement Party suffered defeat in the parliamentary elections, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez won reelection in Venezuela. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed that he was... MORE

Kazakhstan Downplays NATO’s Role in Central Asia

Kazakhstan has recently participated in international military exercises with its NATO partners as well as through the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in what at first sight appears to confirm that its multi-vector foreign policy also strongly influences its defense and security policy. Nonetheless, the... MORE

Ethnic Laks in Dagestan Organize to Defend Their Rights

The Lak National Council was established at a conference in Makhachkala on September 28 that was attended by 427 delegates from Dagestan’s Lak, Novolak and Kuli districts and towns with a significant population of ethnic Laks. The former head of the Dagestani branch of the... MORE

A New Wave of Protests in Kyrgyzstan

On October 3, the Kyrgyz opposition tried to capture the parliament building, where the office of the president and his administration are also located. The rally resulted in shooting by the police and subsequent dispersal of the protesters. The gathering was organized by leaders of... MORE

Russian Policy in Georgia in a State of Flux

The victory by the Georgian Dream (GD) opposition coalition in the parliamentary elections on October 1 has surprised outside observers. According to the latest official results after practically all votes were counted by the Central Election Commission, the GD, led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, received... MORE