Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
Belarus Cracks Down on Youth Activists
Since late November, the Belarusian authorities have targeted members of the Malady Front (Young Front, MF), an organization registered in the Czech Republic but not in Belarus, as well as Eurapeyskaya Belarus (European Belarus), the members of which overlap.On November 16-17, the press secretary of... MORE
Ukraine-EU Summit a Failure?
The Ukraine-European Union (EU) summit held in Kyiv on December 4 failed to move the country closer to the West. An association agreement, viewed in Ukraine as a serious step toward EU membership, was not signed because a free trade zone accord which is part... MORE
Authorities Show Little Enthusiasm for Probing Murders of Ingush Rights Activists
On December 12, the brother of the murdered Ingush opposition figure Maksharip Aushev, Mussa, stated that the investigation of the murder had made no evident progress since he was killed on October 25. That is despite the fact that Ingushetia’s President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Russian... MORE
Strategic Implications of the Central Asia-China Gas Pipeline
The opening of the Central Asia-China gas pipeline on December 14 (EDM, December 15) is fraught with momentous implications in Eurasia, Europe, and potentially on a global level. Russia’s near-monopsony on Turkmen gas has finally been broken. With Russia’s own gas production stagnant, loss of... MORE
Tashkent Prioritizes its Strategic Role in Afghanistan’s Future
Uzbekistan’s state railroad company Ozbekiston Temir Yollari has won the Afghan government’s tender to build rail infrastructure linking the northern Afghan border town of Hairatan with Mazar-e Sharif, supported by a credit line extended by the Asian Development Bank. In late November, the Uzbek government... MORE
Viktor Yushchenko’s Foreign Policy Agenda
Viktor Yushchenko has trailed badly in opinion polls in the last year with ratings of less than 5 percent, but has benefitted from the collapse of Arseniy Yatseniuk’s election campaign (rankings of candidates in 2008-2009: www.uceps.org/ukr/poll.php?poll_id=91). Yushchenko is now the main “Orange” competitor to Yulia... MORE
Russia Struggles to Revive Energy Ties With Turkmenistan
Russian officials insist that the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline project is not a matter of Moscow’s concern. However, Moscow has been struggling to sustain its earlier gas agreements with Ashgabat. The Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline project would not adversely affect Russia’s energy cooperation with China, including plans... MORE
Three Central Asian Countries Inaugurate Gas Export Pipeline to China
With Europe and the United States outside looking in (or away), Turkmenistan opened a gas floodgate to China on December 14. Presidents Hu Jintao of China, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan, Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, and Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan led the valve-opening ceremony at Samandepe... MORE
Medvedev’s Proposal for a Special Northern Caucasus Envoy Sparks Wide Speculation
On December 10, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov might be appointed special representative responsible for the North Caucasus republics. This news raised speculation about possible candidacies for this position to a new level, as the appointment of a high-ranking official like... MORE
Russian Gas and Oil Projects on Hold in Bulgaria
On December 11 in Sofia, a regular meeting of the Russian-Bulgarian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation failed to restart the three major Russian energy projects in Bulgaria: the South Stream gas pipeline, Burgas-Alexandropolis oil pipeline, and Belene nuclear power plant. The center-right Bulgarian government, in... MORE