Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
Moscow Seeks Room to Maneuver as Crisis on the Korean Peninsula Intensifies
The sinking of the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) Corvette, Cheonan, on March 26, has proven to be a slow-building crisis, but one fraught with grave risks of conflict on the Korean peninsula. Moscow’s response has revealed much about the limits affecting Russian policy in the... MORE
No Let-Up in Attacks in Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria
Violence continued unabated this week in Dagestan, which increasingly appears to be the new focal point of insurgent activity in the North Caucasus.Earlier today (June 18), unidentified attackers fired automatic weapons from a car at a vehicle in which Russian servicemen were riding in the... MORE
Gazprom Seduces Romania With South Stream
On June 16 in Moscow, Gazprom CEO, Aleksei Miller, and Romanian Economy Minister, Adriean Videanu, agreed on steps to bring Romania, instead of Bulgaria, into the South Stream project; and bring Gazprom into Romania’s energy sector.Miller and Videanu agreed on the following steps (Interfax, June... MORE
Moscow’s Biggest Victory over the North Caucasus Rebels Since Fall 2000
The Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation announced that on June 9, the leader of the Ingush Jamaat, Emir Magas (aka, Ahmed Yevloev or Ali Taziev), was captured during a special operation conducted in the Ingush town of Malgobek. It was the first... MORE
Rebuilding Inter-Ethnic Trust Becomes Kyrgyzstan’s Major Concern
Most media outlets described the recent violence in southern Kyrgyzstan as an inter-ethnic clash that has re-opened historical grievances among ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups. Kyrgyzstan’s provisional government, in turn, accused the former President, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, of provoking the violence. Local NGO’s have put forward... MORE
Moscow Caught Unprepared by the Carnage in the Ferghana Valley
The outbreak of ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks has left, according to the latest official figures, some 200 dead, thousands wounded and up to 100,000 minority Uzbeks fleeing pogroms by Kyrgyz mobs. The head... MORE
TAPI and the Prospects of an Indian-Turkmen Strategic Partnership
For more than 15 years, the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI) project, which proposes to deliver gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan, has remained an elusive scheme. Backed by the West and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), it is a subject of intense debate... MORE
Will Yanukovych’s Reform Plan Convince IMF?
Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, launched his long-awaited reform program with great fanfare, addressing the nation and parliamentarians from the lavish Soviet-style Ukraina palace in central Kyiv on June 3. The document, which details reform plans in the economic sector for 2010-2014, prepared with the help... MORE
Russian Leadership Forced to Personally Monitor the Situation in the North Caucasus
On June 14, President Dmitry Medvedev made an unannounced visit to Chechnya. This was his first trip to Chechnya as president of Russia. The trip resembled a state visit, with the Russian president laying flowers at the grave of Akhmad Kadyrov, the first pro-Moscow president... MORE
Turkish-Azeri Deal May Herald New Competition in Southern Corridor
On the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit held in Istanbul, Turkey and Azerbaijan concluded agreements on natural gas cooperation. On June 7, during a ceremony attended by Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Recep Erdogan, Azeri President, Ilham... MORE