Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles

Sannikau Throws His Hat in the Ring

A key opposition leader in Belarus has declared his candidacy for the next presidential elections, scheduled for 2011. Andrei Sannikau, the leader of the civic movement European Belarus, held an interview with “bloggers” in mid-March to outline his policies and answer questions. His decision reflects... MORE

Kyrgyzstan: New Junta in Formation

Kyrgyzstan is teetering on the brink of becoming yet another state ruled by military officials. To date, several military officers have been granted unprecedented political power, which they have used against the regime’s opponents. There are signs that President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is no longer able... MORE

Nord Stream Downloads Financial Risks on German and Italian Governments

Rainer Seele, the Chairman of the German energy company Wintershall, complained in a Russian press interview that commercial banks often “discriminate against” companies involved in Russian projects. According to Seele, the banks generally impose excessive lending costs on such companies (Vremya Novostei, March 19).This should... MORE

Clinton Strives to Maintain the US-Russian “Reset”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Moscow last week with the dual purpose of advancing the struggling negotiations on a new treaty to reduce strategic arsenals and participate in the session of the so-called Middle Eastern “quartet” that includes representatives of the United Nations,... MORE

Kadyrov Refuses Police Units From Regions Beyond Chechnya

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has refused the services of policemen assigned to Chechnya (www.kp.ru, March 14). It is his first truly significant move since the counter-terrorist operation (CTO) in Chechnya officially ended on April 16, 2009 (www.rosbalt.ru, April 16, 2009). Kadyrov would not have announced... MORE

Top Arab Militants and Police Reportedly Killed in Vedeno Battle

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov reported on March 18 that one of six suspected militants killed in a special operation in the village of Khazhi-Yurt in Chechnya’s Vedeno district was the Arab militant Abu Khaled, who was in charge of providing security for Doku Umarov, the... MORE

Russia Looks East and Sees Storm Clouds: Part Two

Attention to both combat capabilities and combat-readiness by senior officers in Russian military forces echoes comments made by retired Army-General Makhmut Gareev in early March during a conference organized by the Academy of Military Sciences on the lessons of the Great Patriotic War and their... MORE

The UN Accepts CSTO as a Regional Security Organization

On March 18, in Moscow, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) Secretary-General, Nikolay Bordyuzha, signed a declaration on cooperation between the two secretariats. The document, and the UN’s steps preceding it, can be interpreted as UN recognition of this... MORE

Gas Lobby Takes Control of Ukraine’s Security Service

On March 11, the Ukrainian parliament appointed Prime Minister, Nikolai Azarov, and a new Security Service (SBU) Chairman, Valery Khoroshkovsky. As Ukrayinska Pravda (February 24) warned: “An additional bonus for the Liovochkin-Firtash group could be the appointment of Khoroshkovsky as the head of the SBU... MORE