Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

Russian Ground Forces Lose Out in Modernization Plans

The modernization of the Russian armed forces, as currently planned for the next decade, appears to squeeze resources for re-equipping the Ground Forces.  An article in the defense ministry’s official publication, Krasnaya Zvezda, unsurprisingly confirmed that modernizing the strategic nuclear arsenal will take the lions’... MORE

Russia and Kazakhstan Agree to a Joint Air Defense Shield

Russia and Kazakhstan have agreed to establish a joint regional air defense shield, with Moscow pledging to transfer several S-300 air defense systems to Astana. The S-300’s are designed to protect administrative, industrial, and military centers from tactical and strategic aviation attacks. Russia also invited... MORE

Moldova Between The EU and Russia

Moldova’s Alliance for European Integration (AEI) has won a new, and potentially longer, lease on life, after 16 months of insecure governance (EDM, January 7). Its post-election government is due to be installed on January 14. The AEI’s success, however hard-won, shows the European Union’s... MORE

Azerbaijan Opens New Water Pipeline

After almost four years of construction, the Oguz-Gabala-Baku water pipeline was inaugurated on December 28, 2010. Costing almost $1 billion, the pipeline is already termed by many in Azerbaijan as the “second BTC,” referring to the strategically important Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline built a decade ago to... MORE

Moldova’s Latest Elections: a Chance to Mend the Political Turmoil

Moldova illustrates the risks of introducing a parliamentary system of government prematurely, ahead of state consolidation, institution building, or even genuine party building. Inverting that sequence can disorganize and destabilize the state itself, then return authoritarians to power. Ukraine, Moldova, and Kyrgyzstan have each alternated... MORE

Moldova’s Alliance For European Integration: a Team of Rival Parties

Moldova can finally regain political stability after two years of constitutional crisis, incessant parliamentary and presidential elections, unstable governance, and institutional vacancies. Following the November 28, 2010 parliamentary elections (EDM, November 29), the new parliament convened on December 28 and reconstituted the Alliance for European... MORE

New Year Brings Little Peace to the North Caucasus

An analysis by Kavkavsky Uzel found that the security situation deteriorated significantly last year in Kabardino-Balkaria, where rebels became markedly more active. According to the website, there was a sharp jump in the number of gun attacks, bombings and terrorist acts in the republic during... MORE