Country News DigestIssue #8

10/19/12-10/26/12

Country News DigestThe leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to re-start peace talks over

Azerbaijan

Georgia

RussiaNagorno-Karabakh in Paris this weekend. This renewed effort may have been prompted by OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier’s expression of concern over the lack of progress toward a resolution in the region earlier this week.

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Rosneft, Russia’s state oil company, announced its decision to buy BP’s 50% stake in its Russian venture TNK-BP in a deal estimated to be worth $26 billion. President Vladimir Putin stated he had “misgivings” about the deal’s impact on Russia’s privatization plans, but said he hoped it would increase Rosneft’s transparency.

Armenia

Moldova

Belarus

Ukraine

Turkey

Ukraine’s parliamentary elections are to be held this Sunday, and are being interpreted as a litmus test for the country’s democratic potential. Western officials are hoping that the elections will be free and fair, but they are already citing concerns.

After the European Union renewed sanctions against Belarus for human rights violations, the President Lukashenko suggested that Europe does not fairly compensate Belarus for acting as a bulwark against the movement of illegal migrants westward. He claimed to have stopped about 10,000 migrants a year from making it into the EU, a policy that he is considering abandoning. due to Europe’s sanctions.

Enlargement & European Neighborhood Commis-sioner Štefan Füle has called Moldova the Eastern Partnership’s most prominent mem-ber and stated that Moldova deserves the prospect of EU membership. This year, for the first time, EU assistance to Moldova will surpass €100 million.

Georgia’s Parliament con-firmed Bidzina Ivanishvili as Prime Minister on

Thursday this week in its new location of Kutaisi, Georgia’s second-largest city. Animosity between members of Ivanishvili’s Georgia Dream coalition and President Mikheil Saakashvili continues as Prime Minister Ivanishvili’s inconsistent and laid-back demeanor raise questions about his readiness to lead the country.

On Wednesday at an Armenian parliamentary meeting, opposition MP

Levon Zurabyan alleged the Armenian government has sold has sold its 20 percent stake in ArmRusGasprom to Russia’s Gazprom, who already owns 80% of the joint Russian-Armenian gas company. Armenian energy minister Armen Movsisyan denied the accusation and stated the Armenian government is still negotiating the price of gas imports with Gazprom.

At a roundtable discussion with Turkish academics on Tuesday, the vice chairman

of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. James Winnefeld, implied the US will not get involved in creating a safe haven inside Syria. Also this week US Army Europe Commander Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling stated the US has “a relatively few number” of US army personnel in Turkey, but that the US and Turkey have been sharing intelligence.

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Country News DigestThe Kyrgyz National Security Committee along with the Russian FSB

Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan

broke up a drug smuggling operation transporting drugs from Tajikistan to Russia via Kyrgyzstan. The joint forces arrested a Tajik national with 4kg heroin and 6kg hashish. The case will be heard in Russia.

Special Af-Pak rep., Marc Grossman, caused a stir in Afghanistan when he stated that the US views the Durand Line – established by British India and Afghanistan in 1893 – as the modern day border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Afghan foreign ministry critisized the statement. Afghanistan has rejected the Durand Line since 1947.

Mongolia

IranHead of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, has barred President Ahmadinejad from visiting a jailed former aide at a Tehran prison. In response Ahmadinejad accused Larijani of protecting “certain people” from corruption charges. The aide - Ali Akbar Javanfekr – was Ahmadinejad’s press advisor and head of the official Islamic Republic News Agency until his imprisonment in September for insulting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Turkmenistan’s President, Gurbanguly Berdymu-khammedov issued pardons to 2,000 prisoners this week in honor of his country’s 21st anniversary of independence on Oct. 27th. This continues a practice begun by former President Sarparmurat Niyazov, who issued such pardons once per year during Ramadan.

U.S. Coal Miner Peabody Energy is eager to resume talks with Mongolia over developing the western block of the Tavan Tolgoi deposit. Peabody was part of a consortium that was to develop this area, but talks broke down after the Mongolian Security Council rejected the bid. State-owned Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi has invited Peabody Energy during the interim period.

The Kazakh government has lowered its estimate for GDP growth from 5.8%

to 5.4%. The fall is partially due to the fall in demand, prices for metal exports as well as the severe drought that impacted grain exports. In May President Nazarbayev had forecasted a 7% increase, similar to last year’s level.

The Human Rights Watch has condemned the government’s move

to close down Amparo. Amparo consists of more than forty activists who work on a range of issues including allegations of torture and army conscripts’ rights. The group was found by a court in northern Tajikistan to have been operating without a license.

Last week Uzbekistan finished its annual cotton harvest and hosted the 8th

International Uzbek Cotton and Textile Fair. President Karimov said that the harvest amounted to over 3.35 million tons of cotton. Uzbekistan has emerged as a major global cotton exporter but is still hounded by international groups for its utilization of child labor during the harvest.

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Country News DigestAs of Friday, healthcare workers in Estonia have ended their strike.

Estonia

Lithuania

Czech RepublicAccording to the agreement that they signed,physicians will get paid for the full 40 hours they work instead of the current 32, minimum wage will increase, and workloads will be reduced in outpatient care by 20% and inpatient care by 13%.

The ruling center-right ODS party had another setback this week when they suffered a sound defeat in Senate elections at the hands of the Social Democratic party (CSSD). Although the ODS party no longer holds the majority in the upper house, its majority in the lower house allows it to remain in power but will make planned fiscal cuts more difficult.

Latvia

Romania

Hungary

Poland

The EU Court of Justice found for Slovakia in its dispute with Hungary over alleged violation of the free movement agreement. In 2009, the sitting President of Hungary attempted but was not allowed to attend the unveiling of a monument in Slovakia on the anniversary of military intervention by Warsaw Pact troops (including Hungarians) to quell the Prague Spring uprising of 1968.

Demonstrators burned an Israeli flag in front of Europe’s largest synagogue on Tuesday in Budapest, Hungary. Hungary’s nationalist party Jobbik is suspected, and the party’s leadership has spoken out against Jewish business interests in Hungary. The Hungarian government strongly condemned the flag burning and the sentiments behind it.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Romania’s economic recovery is in a fragile state. The country is expected to grow at 0.9% in 2012 and 2.5% in 2013.

Chevron has entered Lithuania by acquiring a 50% stake in local

company LL Investicijos. The US-London company looks to invest in shale gas exploration. The Lithuanian government has set a goal for energy independence from Russia.

The Riga Central District Court ruled Constitutional Court Judge Vineta

Muizniece is guilty of forgery, and has been ordered to pay a fine worth ten minimum wages - LVL 2,000. The sentence will be available on November 8, after which Muizniece will have 10 working days to file an appeal.

The Polish Minister of Sport resigned this week after a controversial

incident in which a World Cup qualifying match between Poland and England in Warsaw had to be rain-delayed. The facility that hosted the match is equipped with a retractable roof, which those in charge of the event failed to close despite heavy rain.

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Country News DigestThe question of whether to halt construction of the Belene nuclear power

Bulgaria

Albania

Croatiaplant will go to a referendum. The Bulgarian government earlier this fall had said it would scrap plans to construct the plant; this drew numerous payment demands from the proposed plant’s Russian builder, Rosatom Corps.

Germany wants Croatia to join the EU by summer 2013. Merkel says that she looks forward to Croatia joining the EU by July 1st.

Serbia

Macedonia

A riot erupted shortly before the scheduled tip-off of a basketball game between Partizan and Buducnost in Montenegro’s capital city, Podgorica. According to reports, Partizan fans taunted Buducnost fans with chants who then responded by invading the court. Riot police quickly regained control of the situation. Twenty-one fans and four police officers were injured in the incident.

After committing to a thaw in relations in order to hasten integration into the European Union, the Prime Ministers of Kosovo and Serbia met officially for the first time in history this week. In response to the move, opposition hardliners in Kosovo held a protest that escalated into violence and was only dispersed when police deployed tear-gas on the crowd.

The European Commission has referred Slovenia to the European Court of Justice over its failure to completely implement the EU’s electricity and gas directives into its legislation in regards to the use of pesticide, landfills and rail interoperability. Slovenia previously received warnings in September 2011 and June of this year.

After 31 days of camping out, the group of

Communist-era dissidents are officially ending their hunger strike, citing exhaustion and political pressure. They will not give up their fight and have stated that they will continue protesting in other ways.

Illegal immigration into Britain has worsened as droves of immigrants

from Serbia and Macedonia have entered the country requesting asylum. Europe does not impose a visa-regime, and visa-free travel is key for these immigrants to try and find a better life.

Macedonian authorities are seeking to pass a new law governing defamation and

libel. Although the law decriminalizes libel, it raises the minimum fine for libel to a much higher level. NGOs claim this law will lead to widespread self-censorship and discourage people from becoming journalists. The law would also heavily fine internet service providers who enable users to post libelous material.

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Montenegro

Kosovo

Slovenia

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Country News Digest

Bosnia & Herzegovina

The city of Srebrenica elected Camil Durakovic as its new mayor this week; continuing Muslim rule of the city since after the 1995 massacre. Mr. Durakovic enjoyed significant support from absentee voters, who for the first time were not organized by Bosnia’s international peace overseers.

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

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