Country News DigestVol.4, Issue #11

03/31/14-04/04/14

Editor: Eugene Imas

Contributors:-Risa Chubinsky-Glyn Cozart-Joseph Gates-Thomas Hyde-Katya Quinn-Judge

Country News DigestOn April 2 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with an Austrian delegation

Azerbaijan

Georgia

Russialed by Second President of the National Council Karlheinz Kopf in Baku. During meetings the two leaders emphasized bilateral ties and economic development between the two countries. The delegation also met with Azerbaijani Speaker of Parliament Ogtay Asadov, where Kopf expressed support for Azerbaijan’s European integration efforts.

On Thursday, Russia raised gas prices for Ukraine for the second time this week. Ukraine now pays 80% more for gas than it did on Monday, the date of the initial price increase, and the highest rates in Europe, at $485 per 1,000 cubic metres. According to Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom, the price hike is due to the introduction of an export duty. However, Ukrainian and Western officials view the move as strictly political.

Armenia

Moldova

Belarus

Ukraine

Turkey

The Ukrainian interim government has now formally accused ousted President Yanukovych of ordering snipers to attack protesters in Kiev and of employing gangs of thugs to terrify the opposition. However, they have not provided direct evidence linking Yanukovych to the violence and death in Kiev during the increased hostilities, which peaked on February 20. The government also claimed to that the Russian FSB aided Yanukovych’s government’s attempts to suppress the opposition.

Belarus assumed the chairmanship of the CIS on Friday, as the CIS Foreign Ministers Council met in Moscow under the leadership of Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makey. Makey said Belarus would use its chairmanship to focus on coordinating the industrial sectors of the various CIS members, and implementing the CIS free trade zone. Ukraine had been due to chair the CIS, but announced on March 19 that it was relinquishing its chairmanship.

US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland pledged $10 million to support border security efforts in Moldova during a visit to Chisinau last weekend. Nuland also refuted claims by Vladimir Putin that Chisinau had imposed a blockade on Transnistria, saying the movement of both people and goods across the Transnistrian-Ukrainian border had been proceeding freely. Putin raised the alleged blockade to Obama over the weekend, and reiterated his concerns with Angela Merkel on Wednesday.

Giga Bokeria, former secretary of the National Security Council and

current foreign secretary of the opposition UNM party, was summoned by state prosecutors for questioning on Friday. Prosecutors said Bokeria would serve as a witness in an investigation into the “misspending of large amount of budgetary funds” by the National Security Council under UNM’s rule. UNM has said the summons is part of a campaign of political persecution against UNM members.

Some Armenian lawmakers have expressed concern over the fate of ethnic

Local elections for mayors and other officials on Sunday led Prime

Armenians in the northwestern Syrian city of Kessab. Reports state that 600 families have had to flee after being attacked by groups believed to be associated with al-Qaeda affiliates. Armenian NGOs and civic groups have been raising funds for the displaced, but members of the ruling HKK party have criticized the international community as having “not given an adequate response.”

Minister Erdogan to claim victory after his Justice and Development party received more than 45% of the vote. While Erdogan was not running for office, he believes this strong turnout is a mandate for him to run for the presidency in August. The pro-secular main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, received 28% of the vote.

Articles:Moldova.org RFE/RL

Articles:Vestnik Kavkaza Belta

Articles:New York Times Guardian

Articles:Reuters Voice of America

Articles:Interpressnews Civil.ge

Articles:News.az Azernews

Articles:RFE/RL A One Plus

Articles:Economist New York Times

Country News DigestRosneft began negotiations to purchase a majority stake in Manas International

Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan

Airport, a state-controlled company that owns all civilian airports in Kyrgyzstan. Manas previously hosted US troops en route to Afghanistan, but their withdrawal limited options to remain profitable are left. Sechin signed a non-binding memorandum in February about Rosneft’s intention to buy at least 51% of Manas’ shares.

Two Associated Press journalists were shot in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province on Friday ahead of presidential elections on April 5. They were traveling in a convoy of election workers when a unit commander of the Afghan National Army opened fire on them. Anja Niedringhaus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning German photographer, was killed. Kathy Gannon, a Canadian reporter, is in stable condition.

Mongolia

IranRegional press reports announced on Friday that Pakistan-based Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl released four Iranian border guards after being kidnapped in February. Jaish al-Adl, which operates in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, released the prisoners in response to appeals from an Iran-based Sunni cleric.

On Wednesday delegations from all Caspian Sea littoral states met in Ashgabat for the 26th Caspian Sea Legal Regime to discuss issues surrounding the legal status of the Caspian Sea. During the meeting officials prepared points and negotiations for an upcoming minister-level summit on Caspian legal issues to be held in Astrakhan, Russia.

In a celebration of 65 years of diplomatic relations, delegates from Mongolia joined their counterparts in Albania’s capital city, Tirana, for a series of cultural exchange events this week. The festivities included performances of traditional Mongolian dances and throat singing, as well as a photography exhibit from a prominent Mongolian photojournalist.

President Nazarbaev signed a decree on Wednesday appointing Presidential

Administration head Karim Massimov, an economist fluent in Chinese, Arabic, and English, to the post of Prime Minister. Nazarbaev hinted that outgoing Prime Minister Serik Ahkmetov had failed to take adequate measures to bolster the country’s economy, which was rocked by the 19% devaluation of the tenge in February. Massimov has pledged that he “will always be [Nazarbaev’s] helper.”

Tajikistan’s authorities passed an order on Wednesday to increase excise taxes on

imported oil products by 5 to 20 euros per ton. Tajikistan, which has no oil and gas resources of its own, taxes more for oil imports than any country in Central Asia, and has the highest gas prices in the region. Tajikistan plans to import more that one million tons of oil products from Russia this year.

The World Bank reported that it is considering a loan to Uzbekistan for $200

million to construct the Angren-Pap railway line, which began construction in summer 2013 and will pass along the border with Tajikistan. The loan would cover the necessary equipment and machinery and will be financed by the state budget, the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund, and international finance institutes.

Tajikistan

Uzbekistan

Afghanistan

Turkmenistan

Balkans UB Post

Articles:RIA Fars News

Articles:BBC US News

Articles:CNN GuardianArticles:EurasiaNet 24

Articles:Trend Azattyq

Articles:Asia Plus Nezavisimoe Mnenie

Articles:AzerNews Interfax Articles:

Country News DigestAt the EU-Africa Summit in Brussels on Tuesday, newly sworn in Prime

Estonia

Lithuania

Czech RepublicMinister Roivas emphasized Estonian civic activity in Africa and stressed the country’s willingness to help Africa develop e-governance. Estonian involvement on the continent already increased earlier this year, when the country agreed to send 55 troops to the Central African Republic as part of an EU military operation.

Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, has purchased a 51% stake of the Czech brewer Zatec, its first foothold into the Czech market. Zatec was built in 1801 in Zatec castle, and produces up to 200,000 hectolitres per years. The Czech market is the largest beer market per capita; Czechs drink 148.6 litres per capita each year.

Latvia

Romania

Hungary

Poland

In a shocking victory, independent businessman Andrej Kiska convincingly defeated Prime Minister Robert Fico in the decisive run-off round of the presidential election this week. Kiska gained 59% of the votes compared to 41% of Fico’s, despite Fico’s last-ditch efforts to smear his opponent by accusing him of ties to Scientology.

Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban has expressed his opposition to sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Crimea. Analysts point to close energy ties between Hungary and Russia, as well as concerns surrounding the large population of ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine as motivations for the PM’s position.

On Wednesday a US defense official announced the deployment of 175 additional Marines to the several hundred already stationed at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near the coastal city of Constanta as a response to recent Russian incursions into Ukraine. The Romanian government stipulates that up to 600 US Marines may be stationed in Romania at any given time.

Lithuania has banned the television program “RTR Planeta” for three weeks.

The decision follows the program’s broadcast of a show that claimed that undercover Lithuanian agents, not Soviet forces, killed 13 civilians in 1991 when Soviet authorities attempted to forcibly quell Lithuania’s independence movement.

Russian press outlets are reporting that Latvia’s parliament is considering

legislation that would make the “white-washing” or denial of the Soviet or Nazi occupation a criminal offence, punishable by up to three years in prison. Characterizing Latvia’s historical experience during the Soviet period as an occupation remains contentious, given Latvia’s large Russian-speaking population.

On April 1 during a meeting of foreign ministers from NATO countries Polish

Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski requested two heavy brigades of armored infantry totaling around 10,000 troops to be stationed in Poland. The request comes as a result of Russian military movements near Ukraine’s eastern border; Poland shares a 144-mile border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Slovakia

Articles:Marine Corps Times Reuters

Articles:Reuters Politics.hu

Articles:Economist Guardian

Articles:Global Post ReutersArticles:Estonian Govt Global Post

Reuters Baltic Course

Articles:RAPSI RT

Articles:Telegraph RT

Articles:

Country News DigestThere was dispute this week over the fate of the South Stream Pipeline

Bulgaria

Albania

Croatiathrough Bulgaria. While Brussels has suspended talks with Moscow about its development, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Vigenin said that technical studies were still being carried out and that he did not believe that there was a long term threat to the pipeline.

In an effort to reduce dependence on energy imports, Croatia published an international tender for oil and gas exploration in the Adriatic Sea on Wednesday. The tender will run for seven months, and the government plans to issue contracts in early 2015. 29 block areas ranging in size from 1,000 to 1,600 square kilometers are being auctioned off, and each bidder may compete for an unlimited number of blocks.

Serbia

Macedonia

A recent series of arrests in Montenegro of high-ranking officials and public figures has been part of the renewed national effort to reduce corruption and organized crime per EU Chapters 23 and 24. Among the arrests made last month were the mayor of the coastal city of Budva, the privatisation adviser to Prime Minister Djukanovic, and the deputy director of Prva Bank.

NATO announced on Friday that airspace above Kosovo would be open for civilian flights for the first time in 15 years, saving time and money for commercial airlines operating in the region. The plan was finalized after Hungary agreed that it would provide air traffic control for these flights. Eurocontrol, the European air traffic organization, estimated that this route will cut operating costs by 18 million euros and reduce flights by 370,000 nautical miles per year in total.

The Slovenian government is now seeking bids for a 75.6% stake in Telekom Slovenije. The company is the largest of the fifteen selected by the government for privatization following a 3.2 billion euro bailout last year. The deadline for bids is April 23, and there is already some speculation that Deutsche Telekom might be interested. The estimated value of Telekom Slovenije is currently 1.2 billion euro.

Prime Minister Edi Rama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel

in Berlin on Wednesday to lobby for Albania’s selection as an EU candidate. While the European Commission issued a recommendation for Albania’s candidacy last year, the EU Council of Ministers decided to postpone granting it candidate status at its meeting in December, citing the need for a longer record on fighting corruption and organized crime.

On Tuesday Czech President Milos Zeman arrived in Belgrade for a

two-day official visit with leaders of Serbian government, including President Tomislav Nikolic. During these meetings Zeman publicly supported Serbia’s integration with the European Union and decried terrorism and drug trafficking during the opening of an exhibition on Czech-Serbian military cooperation.

On Friday Macedonia’s State Electoral Commission announced

the competing parties and the ballot order for snap parliamentary elections later this month. A total of fourteen parties are registered in elections set for April 27, which is the smallest number of competing parties in an election in the country’s history. Presidential elections are also scheduled in Macedonia for April 13.

Articles:Bloomberg Reuters

Montenegro

Kosovo

Slovenia

Articles:Reuters Stars and Stripes

Articles:SETimes Balkan EU

Articles:Reuters DaljeArticles:Reuters EurActiv

Articles:Balkan Insight Bundesregierung

Articles:Prague Post Prague Monitor

Articles:Sofia Globe Focus News

Country News Digest

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Actress Angelina Jolie toured Bosnia and Herzegovina last week with British Foreign Secretary Hague to promote a campaign to end sexual violence against women during war. Jolie and Hague travelled to Sarajevo and Srebrenica to talk to victims of rape during the war from 1992-1995, during which an estimated 20,000 women are believed to have been raped. Jolie’s initiative was partially inspired by her role in an upcoming film about a Bosnian woman who was raped during the war.

Box 571031, ICC 111, Washington, DC 20057-1031

Email: ceres@georgetown.edu Tel.: (202) 687-6080 Fax: (202) 687-5829

The Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies is a U.S. Department of Education Title VI-funded National Resource Center (NRC)

that strives to increase understanding and appreciation of the cultures and challenges of the region stretching from Central Europe to the Pacific and

from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas

Articles:Reuters BBC

© 2013 by Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies; School of Foreign Service; Georgetown University* CERES is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites.