Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
Moscow Remains Insecure After Ten Years of Fighting Terrorism in the North Caucasus
Thirty-nine people died and over 80 were wounded as a result of two explosions on the Moscow metro system during the morning rush hour on March 29. The insurgency in the North Caucasus has been labeled the primary suspect for what is believed to have... MORE
Franco-Russian Warship Deal Receives Winks and Nods in Brussels and Washington
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s US visit has carefully been protected against any fallout from his proposed sale of Mistral-class power-projection warships to Russia. Ahead of Sarkozy’s visit, Moscow moved to embarrass him. It punctured some key French assumptions about this deal and undermined French reassurances... MORE
Turkey Maintains Objections to Tougher Measures Against Iran
Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, attending the Arab League Summit in Sirte, Libya, expressed support for a proposal for a regional dialogue forum, which among other issues will seek to engage Iran.On March 27, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, proposed a... MORE
Nazarbayev Labors to Mend Fences with Tashkent
On March 17, Kazakhstan’s President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, arrived in Tashkent to discuss bilateral relations with his Uzbek counterpart and regional rival. Although the visit was prompted by an official invitation from President, Islam Karimov, he received a saliently reserved welcome in Tashkent. Karimov failed to... MORE
Russian Analysts Question the Viability of the “Reset”
The announced follow-on Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), to be signed by the US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Prague on April 8 has served to re-focus strategic thinking on how the “reset” might further develop and the diversity of... MORE
Conflict Intensifies Between Ingushetia’s President and Republican Judiciary
On March 23, the Supreme Court of Ingushetia issued a statement complaining about President Yunus-bek Yevkurov’s attacks on the judiciary. According to the statement, Yevkurov had without basis accused the republic’s judges of corruption and supporting terrorism. The Supreme Court judges also alleged that Yevkurov... MORE
Arms Control Intersects With Russian Leadership Struggle
With the announcement of a new arms control treaty in the media, the US Senate, and the Duma will naturally focus on issues such as the numbers of warheads and delivery systems, and verification of each side’s capabilities. However, without praising or belittling the treaty,... MORE
Putin’s “Long Decade” Continues Despite Medvedev’s “Modernization”
Last weekend marked the tenth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s election as Russian president on March 26, 2000, while strictly speaking his “era” started with Boris Yeltsin’s surprise departure from the Kremlin three months earlier –and it certainly did not come to an end with his... MORE
Azerbaijan Seeks New Partners to Diversify its Economy
On March 19, during the launch of construction works for the large shipbuilding factory in the outskirts of Baku, President Ilham Aliyev announced: “At the moment, in Azerbaijan, we are conducting a policy of large-scale industrialization” (Azertaj news agency). As he made the statement, he... MORE
Pro-Russian Old Guard, Returns to Run Ukrainian Security Forces
President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov are both ignoring the sensitivities of “Orange” Western and Central Ukraine by returning to positions of power individuals from Leonid Kuchma’s second term in office. Moreover, defectors from the Kuchma regime, who had received asylum in Russia... MORE