Eurasian News

02/04/2020

The EIAS report: THE NORTHERN SEA ROUTE
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND RUSSIAN REGULATIONS

This paper aims to clarify the EU’s contribution to the establishment of the Arctic order. In forming Arctic policy and legal order, it is essential to examine current international and Russian domestic laws, which practically control the shipping route through the Arctic Sea.

06/03/2020

Azerbaijan is beginning to assert itself in the post-Soviet fuel feuds. This and more in our monthly briefing on Russian business in Eurasia.

06/03/2020

The European Union would benefit from closer cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has said in Minsk.

The Capitals is EURACTIV's daily newsletter from across Europe.

24/02/2020

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Putin had offered to pay compensation for the disruption, which could reach US$300 million during this year.

The presidents of Russia and Belarus have discussed the bilateral oil dispute again since the Kremlin stopped supplying oil and gas on New Year’s Eve. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Putin had offered to pay compensation for the disruption, which could reach US$300 million during th...

24/02/2020

Foreign minister urges US and Europe to resist Moscow’s tightening grip on Black Sea

21/02/2020

On February 16, Kazakh internet users were seething about their inability to perform Google searches or access other Google services. Popular messaging service Telegram had by that point been inaccessible for three days.

When the internet gets throttled in Kazakhstan (and it happens often), who exactly is behind it?

21/02/2020

The EU christened the revived Ukraine–Belarus–Poland water route the “E-40 Project” and designated it part of its Eastern Partnership program.

During the Middle Ages, the waterways linking the Baltic and the Black seas were a far more important trade corridor than any land routes linking Europe with what was to become Russia. Twenty years ago, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the European Union called for developing this older r...

18/02/2020

While it may not have been first on your list for vacations, Kazakhstan is a wild and wonderful country with a beautiful history and a bright future.

When I first told my family I had planned a weeklong trip to Kazakhstan I was met with confusion, followed quickly by the Kazakh national anthem as sung in Borat. In short, it’s safe to say that this Central Asian country is missing from many Westerner’s travel plans — and it shouldn’t be. L...

18/02/2020

Kazakhstan and Russia, which are among the founders of the EAEU, will continue to remain the “locomotives” of Eurasian integration, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at the Munich Security Conference

By Georgi Gotev | EURACTIV.com 17-02-2020 (updated: 17-02-2020 ) Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev speaks at the Munisch Security Conference. [ Twitter] Comments Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Kazakhstan and Russia, which are among the founders of the EAEU, will cont...

17/02/2020

On 10 February, the Volga District Military Court sentenced seven representatives of leftist-anarchist groups from Penza and St. Petersburg to long jail sentences. They had been found guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation called Network.

On 10 February, the Volga District Military Court sentenced seven representatives of leftist-anarchist groups from Penza and St. Petersburg to long jail sentences. They had been found guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation called Network. The court ruled that the defendants had planned to c...

17/02/2020

The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo visited Minsk on 1 February. This was the first visit of a US Secretary of State to Belarus in 26 years.

The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo visited Minsk on 1 February. This was the first visit of a US Secretary of State to Belarus in 26 years. He had visited Ukraine one day earlier, and subsequently travelled to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. During his short visit, Pompeo met with President Alyaksand...

14/02/2020

A row over energy prices is a sign that Belarus and Russia are set to have a cooler and more pragmatic relationship.

Opinion | A row over energy prices is a sign that Belarus and Russia are set to have a cooler and more pragmatic relationship.

14/02/2020

Amid a push from Russia for closer ties, Belarus is considering adopting a new national coat of arms that pointedly looks west.

13/02/2020

The Eurasian Economic Union was supposed to ease cross-border trade. Truck drivers waiting in dayslong lines say it has made the border checks worse.

The Eurasian Economic Union was supposed to ease cross-border trade. Kyrgyz truck drivers waiting days to enter Kazakhstan say it has made the border worse

13/02/2020

As for Russia, the spread of the virus, against which there is no vaccine yet, will have an inevitable impact: China accounts for over 12 percent of all Russian exports.

Cancelled flights, rotten bananas, suspended food imports and cheap oil - here is our brief summary of the Covid-19 outbreak to date.

11/02/2020

President Kassym-Jomart sent a letter to Chinese Leader Xi Jinping on readiness to help China in combating the coronavirus infection.

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM Today, at the Cabinet’s weekly session, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tleuberdi informed the attendees about the measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Kazakhstan, Kazinform correspondent reports.

11/02/2020

Putin and Lukashenko met in Russia’s Black Sea resort town Sochi on Friday to try to resolve the impasse. The two broke their talks to play ice hockey and were due to meet again Saturday.

In a squabble with Belarus, Russia could lose influence over one of its last close allies.

10/02/2020

The main proposal of the EAEU – mutually beneficial trade according to a simplified scheme – did not cause much enthusiasm in expert circles.

In 2015, Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – an economic union that was created on the initiative of Russia. This was a political decision that the Armenian authorities could not avoid. Five years later, we summarize what this inevitable development has meant for the country: what ...

10/02/2020

In December 2019, OPEC and Russia attempted to respond to sliding oil prices with new production cuts. Following its December meeting in Vienna, OPEC announced it would increase its production cuts by another 500,000 barrels per day (BPD).

Following OPEC production cuts in late 2019, the outlook for oil in 2020 was fairly positive. But just a month into 2020, coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the oil markets.

03/02/2020

In an interview with RFE/RL in the capital, Nur-Sultan, on February 2, Pompeo said the United States wanted "each of the nations in Central Asia to be independent and sovereign, not a supplicant or a vassal state of any other country in the region."

"We have seen the new government make real changes," said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Kazakhstan. Pompeo gave an interview to RFE/RL in Kazakhstan's capital, Nur-Sultan, on February 2.

03/02/2020

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Uzbekistan on Sunday for the final stop of a five-country tour in which he is manoeuvring to undercut Chinese and Russian influence.

Pompeo pushes against China, Russia in visit to 'Stans'

26/01/2020

Mishustin has not hitherto been seen as a significant member of Russia’s political elite or President Putin’s inner circle. However his biography, his careers in business and the civil service, and his social activity (as well as some media reports) show that he is personally acquainted with influential members of the Russian ruling elite.

On 15 January, shortly after President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual address to the Federal Assembly, in which he announced changes to the constitution, it was reported that Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev and his government had resigned. The President entrusted the previous cabinet with the ta...

25/01/2020

This year’s message should be treated as a response to the worsening social climate, as an informal introduction to the campaign for next year’s parliamentary elections and, above all, as a start to the process of managing the succession of power in Russia

On 15 January, the Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his annual address to the Federal Assembly (the combined chambers of parliament). This year’s speech was relatively short (70 minutes), and was focused on two themes: improving the social situation and amendments to the constitution (a popul...

25/01/2020

President Vladimir Putin, following his conversation with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, signed a decree nominating the new government of the Russian Federation

President Vladimir Putin, following his conversation with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, signed a decree nominating the new government of the Russian Federation in the evening of 21 January. Unlike with the previous cabinet, which took almost two months to be formed (March–May 2018), this time ...

24/01/2020

Anyone thinking that Russia will take off without a major rise in energy prices should rethink the situation.

24/01/2020

Russia's space agency has approved the blueprints for the country’s most powerful rocket since the 1960s space race

Russia's new launch vehicle will be huge and powerful—if it's ever built.

23/01/2020

Recent developments in Russia regarding the country’s future constitutional reforms sent an important foreign policy message to Russia’s neighbors: Moscow’s foreign policy will remain unchanged beyond 2024, when Vladimir Putin’s presidency ends.

23/01/2020

Political observers from Belarus and Kyrgyzstan are reacting with surprise and skepticism to media reports that their former Soviet republics could be added to a U.S. travel-ban list.

Reports say Belarus and Kyrgyzstan could be added to an expanded U.S. travel-ban list.

22/01/2020

Lukashenka said on January 21 at a meeting with oil experts in Minsk that the situation Belarus's economy is facing "is getting complex."

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka says Russia is blocking deliveries of Kazakh oil amid a tariff dispute with Moscow, Minsk's regular supplier.

22/01/2020

The Croatian EU Presidency praised Kazakhstan on Monday (20 January) for its initiative to host a ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at a time when the world trade body is facing a deep crisis.