2/16/15 – 2/20/15

After Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called for the

deployment of UN peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine, Vitaly

Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, accused President

Poroshenko of attempting to undermine the agreement.

According to Churkin, such a proposal suggests that the accords

will not be respected. Russia has also started sending gas

supplies into eastern Ukraine following a gas cut by Kyiv.

According to Russia, the gas is humanitarian aid. Ukraine says it

is unable to service the area due to pipelines damaged from the

fighting. Yahoo! BBC

On Thursday, the United States and Turkey signed an

agreement to train and equip some moderate Syrian

opposition fighters in their struggle against Islamic State

militants. The deal was signed by an undersecretary at the

Turkish Foreign Ministry and the U.S. Ambassador to

Turkey. The agreement stipulates that Ankara will provide

an equal number of trainers to work alongside American

counterparts. The Pentagon has identified around 1,200

opposition fighters to undergo training.

Al Jazeera The Guardian

This week, fighting raged in eastern Ukraine despite

European efforts to revive a shaky ceasefire. On Wednesday,

Pro-Russian separatists expelled Ukrainian forces from the

town of Debaltseve, disavowing guarantees made during the

Minsk deal last week. On Thursday, French and German

leaders initiated a four-way telephone call with the leaders of

Ukraine and Russia to urge the implementation of the Minsk

deal measures “strictly and in their entirety.” Western

countries claim Russia is behind the renewed advance, with

the rebels using Russian arms. The Guardian Reuters

Ex-President of Georgia Saakashvili has been appointed head of

Ukraine’s International Advisory Council on Reforms. The

decision disappointed the government in Georgia, where

Saakashvili is wanted for criminal charges. The Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Georgia has summoned the Ukrainian Ambassador to

explain the appointment and demand the extradition of

Saakashvili and former Justice Minister Adeishvili. The

opposition has accused the Georgian government of pursuing

political prosecutions of former government officials.

Reuters DF Watch

On Monday, President Serzh Sargsyan announced that the

Armenian parliament would withdraw from peace accords

with Turkey. The accords were signed by the two countries in

October 2009 but have yet to be approved. Since then there

have been disagreements over the conditions of the deal.

Sargsyan stated that he did not agree to Turkey’s

“preconditions” before it ratifies its part of the agreement,

although reports have been vague as to the exact terms of

these conditions.

ABC Reuters

On Wednesday, Moldova approved a minority pro-European

government relying on support from the Communist Party.

Parliament approved 38-year-old businessman Chriril

Gaburici as the new Prime Minister, following a vote last

week that denied acting Prime Minister Iurie Leanca another

term. The vote comes just after the Moldovan currency lost a

quarter of its value this week in response to political turmoil.

Deutsche Welle

RFE/RL

Belta RFE/RL

U.S. Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs

Victoria Nuland visited Azerbaijan on Monday. Nuland met

with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and with

representatives of civil society in Baku. During the visit she

pointed out that the “U.S. welcomes the cooperation it has

built with Azerbaijan over a period of more than 20 years.”

She stressed issues related to joint cooperation in energy and

security sectors.

Azertag.az State.gov

On February 19, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko

made a statement to top-ranking military officials in which he

said that Belarus is open to a “constructive dialogue” with

NATO. While Lukashenko emphasized that the country would

like to continue to rely on Russia and the CSTO for security

support, he also said the country shouldn’t forfeit opportunities

to negotiate with other treaty organizations. Regarding NATO,

Lukashenko stated that Belarus is open to dialogue on the basis

of “parity and transparency.”

In a confidential report obtained by news organizations, the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) noted ongoing

concerns about undisclosed nuclear activities in Iran, as Iran

continues to evade IAEA questions about suspected work on

nuclear weapons. The report was issued just as another round of

nuclear talks is set to begin in Geneva. IAEA Director-General

Yukiya Amano and Iranian senior nuclear negotiator Abbas

Araqchi will meet in Vienna next week to discuss cooperation

between Iran and the IAEA under a possible final deal.

Reuters New York Times

On Tuesday, a Tajik court handed down prison sentences to 13

members of a banned Islamic group which had been accused of

recruiting residents of Sughd province to fight in Syria. The

men were arrested in November and charged with organizing a

criminal group, illegal weapons possession, and membership in

the banned extremist organization Jamaat Ansarullah. Jamaat

Ansarullah is the Tajikistani branch of the Islamic Movement

of Uzbekistan (IMU) and was banned by the Tajik Supreme

Court in May 2012. The 13 men were given prison sentences

ranging from 9 to 12 years. RAPSI RFE/RL

An article published by the state-run Turkmen Institute of Oil and

Gas on Monday characterized Gazprom as “an unstable partner”

and noted that the company and its affiliates “periodically violate

agreements at interstate, intergovernmental and interdepartmental

level.” The article’s publication comes after Gazprom announced

earlier this month that it would be cutting gas imports from

Turkmenistan by more than 60 percent, a decision the company’s

vice chairman Alexander Medvedev said had been made with

Ashgabat’s blessing.

Hurriyet Daily News EurasiaNet

The Mongolian Parliament will vote soon on a draft law that

would allow the development of multi-billion dollar casinos.

The law, proposed last week, would create two casinos to

attract wealthy regional residents, particularly from China.

The law would also ban Mongolians from gambling at the

casinos. According to Parliament, the casinos will increase

tourism, stimulate the economy, and diversify revenues away

from the mining industry.

Reuters GGRAsia

The Uzbek-South Korean joint venture UzSungwoo began

exporting its products to Brazil. The agreement on

exporting UzSungwoo’s products was signed in August

2014 with the Brazilian company General Motors do

Brasilia LTDA. UzSungwoo was created in April 2011 on a

parity basis by Uzbekistan’s Uzavtosanoat and South

Korean Sungwoo Hitech Ltd. Co with capital of $14

million. The Uzbek state owns 100% of Uzavtosanoat.

The Interior Ministry of Kyrgyzstan announced that a

popular imam in the Kara-Suu district of Osh Province had

been detained by police. The imam, Rashot Kamalov, was

arrested for allegedly calling for citizens in his community to

fight for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The Interior

Ministry also announced that 30 other attempts to recruit

locals to fight for IS had been uncovered in Kara-Suu.

Kamalov’s supporters reject the government’s claims and say

the charges are politically motivated

RFE/RL EurasiaNet

4-Traders AzerNews

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

(UNAMA) documented a sharp rise in civilian casualties in

Afghanistan during 2014, according to its report released by on

Wednesday. The UNAMA report documented 10,548 civilian

casualties in 2014, the highest number of civilian deaths and

injuries in any single year since 2009. The number is 22 percent

higher than in 2013. The number includes 3,699 civilian deaths, a

25 percent increase over 2013. UNAMA Director of Human

Rights Georgette Gagnon cited intensified ground fighting as the

cause of increase casualties. New York Times VOA

The council of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan

(APK), which represents more than 800 ethnic associations in

the country, issued a statement on Saturday calling for early

presidential elections. By law, the elections should be held in

December 2016. However, given the economic slump and

slashed growth forecast, the APK recommended that the

elections be moved up a year to ensure solid leadership

through any future challenges. Such a recommendation by the

APK has been largely considered a fait accompli.

EurasiaNet Astana Times

of-cease-fire-deal?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world

Speaking to Polish Radio 1 on Tuesday, Polish Defense Minister

Tomasz Siemoniak responded to media speculation that Poland

would offer Ukraine anti-aircraft missiles and tanks, and

declared that supplying neighboring Ukraine with heavy

weaponry was “out of the question.” He noted that Poland has

already supplied Ukraine with $4.6 million worth of food,

clothing, and blankets, and was preparing another shipment of

such goods. Siemoniak also expressed skepticism about the

prospects for Ukraine peace talks but reiterated the need for a

ceasefire agreement as a first step. novinite Romania-Insider

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has promised to oppose

Athens’ push to ease the terms of its bailout. He also added that

Bratislava is “calm” about possible Greek exit from the

Eurozone. Fico claimed that EU authorities should enforce

tough measures on Greece. Mr. Fico, who faces elections next

year, said that his views are shared by many EU leaders. The

government debt of Greece in comparison to GDP has increased

since the Eurozone bailout program began.

Financial Times Slovak Spectator

A new gas deposit was discovered in the Romanian portion of

the Black Sea this week. The deposit, which sources have

estimated to be 20-25 B cubic meters, was found through joint

exploration by ExxonMobil and Petrom, the Romanian oil and

gas company. If the companies confirm the estimate, the

deposit could be worth 3.5 billion euro. Romania’s total gas

consumption in 2013 was only 12.5 B cubic meters.

Deutsche Welle Reuters BBC The Moscow Times

During the visit of Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics

to Minsk, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei

commented that he hopes Latvia will be able to find a “mutually

beneficial format” for Belarus-EU dialogue, as Latvia currently

holds the presidency of the EU Council. During his visit

Latvian Foreign Minister also met with Belarusian president

Aleksandr Lukashenko to discuss regional issues including the

Ukrainian conflict.

Baltic-Course Belta

ABC News Reuters

Times of Israel

Wall Street Journal Washington Post

Jewish Daily Forward

Prague will host a new international center to support

political activists in former Soviet Union countries who face

pressure from their governments. The Prague Civil Society

Center will facilitate trainings and workshops for activists

from Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia,

Azerbaijan, Russia, and Central Asia. The center is set up by

a Czech humanitarian organization, People in Need, and

partly financed by the U.S. Agency for International

Development, the Swedish and Czech governments, and two

private U.S. foundations.

On Monday, 500 ultra-nationalists from the Lithuanian

Nationalist Youth Union marched through Kaunas, with

some marchers wearing swastikas. The city saw some of the

worst killing during the Holocaust in 1941. U.S.-born scholar

Dovid Katz said, “This march is particularly offensive

because it is taking place where locals and Nazis murdered

more than 10,000 Jews in one day.” The nationalist marchers

were met by a small gathering of protesters from the local

Jewish community and anti-fascist groups.

In two separate meetings this week, Prime Minister Viktor

Orban met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Polish

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz. At the meeting with President

Putin in Hungary on Tuesday, the two leaders arranged a new

gas deal that will greatly reduce Hungarian costs for Russian

gas. Russia also contracted to cover 80% of the financial costs

of building new Hungarian nuclear reactors. However, in

Warsaw on Thursday, Prime Minister Kopacz criticized Prime

Minister Orban for his warm ties with Russia after the

country’s aggression in Ukraine.

On Thursday, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said

that Russian President Vladimir Putin poses a "real and

present danger" to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. He

furthermore added that Putin might launch undercover

activities to try to destabilize the Baltic States. The Russian

foreign ministry responded saying that the remarks are

"beyond diplomatic ethics."

Turkey warned that militants are planning to travel to Europe

via Bulgaria in order to conduct attacks against countries

participating in the international coalition against IS. Turkey’s

National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) estimated that

around 3,000 IS militants are planning to cross into Turkey

and then Bulgaria in order to carry out terror attacks. The

militants are mainly those who retreated from the climactic

standoff in Kobane after its recapture by Kurdish forces.

Novinvite Jerusalem Post

As Kosovo marked the seventh anniversary of its independence

from Serbia on Tuesday, Prime Minister Isa Mustafa addressed

lawmakers in parliament and called for measures to fight

unemployment, poverty, corruption, and organized crime in an

effort to stem the mass exodus of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.

Approximately 20,000 people have left Kosovo so far this year,

largely in response to the ongoing economic crisis in Kosovo. In

an attempt to stem the flow of Kosovars traveling to Germany

through Hungary, Germany has deployed border patrols to assist

in securing the border between Serbia and Hungary.

CTV News RFE/RL

Tony Blair will officially advise the Serbian government

through his private consultancy, despite his role as a leader in

the NATO bombing of Belgrade in 1999. Blair will counsel

the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who was

Information Minister during the war and a fierce critic of

Blair at the time. Blair and his team have made regular visits

to Belgrade in recent months. According to Serbian officials,

the deal was paid for by the United Arab Emirates.

The Guardian RT

Croatia has received seven bids at an international tender for

onshore exploration of oil and gas on its territory. The

information became public after a statement was made by the

Minister of Economy Ivan Vrdoljak. The tender is part of the

new drive within the European Union to improve on the

terms of energy security. Croatia has not revealed what

companies have applied for the license.

Reuters ANSAmed

On Tuesday, the European Commission announced 118,000

euros of aid to assist people affected by the recent flooding in

Albania. The aid will provide about 8,000 people with food

parcels, hygiene kits, and blankets. The European

Commission aid is in addition to aid already provided by

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, and

Montenegro as part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in

the form of beds, tents, cooking sets, and generators.

The International Monetary Fund announced on Thursday that it

had concluded its Article IV Consultation with Slovenia and

shared its assessment and recommendations. The IMF projected

that Slovenia's gross domestic product will rise by 1.9 percent in

2015 after an estimated expansion of 2.6 percent in 2014. To

achieve fiscal balance and pay down debt, the IMF has urged

Slovenia to speed up privatization, improve tax collection, and

reform pensions.

Public Finance International Reuters

GlobalPost ANSAmed B92 In Serbia

New Zealand Herald RTT News

During his first official visit to Macedonia on Wednesday, EU

Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn expressed

concern about the reported electronic surveillance of

thousands of Macedonian citizens and called for an

investigation into the allegations. Hahn also urged the

country’s politicians to "engage in constructive dialogue."

Earlier this month, opposition politician Zoran Zaev accused

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping more than

20,000 people over the last four years. Zaev himself is facing

criminal charges and barred from leaving the country.

On Tuesday, the Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, Foreign

Minister of Serbia Ivica Dadic, visited Podgorica and said that

Serbia wishes Montenegro to become a member of the

European Union as soon as possible. He added that Belgrade

will do its best to support Montenegro on its path. “I am

pleased that relations between Serbia and Montenegro have

been completely relaxed over the past few years,” he stated at

the meeting with the Montenegrin counterpart Igor Luksic.

On Wednesday, Bosnian police detained six people on

suspicion of traveling to Syria with intent to fight for the

Islamic State (IS). Bosnia’s prosecutor said that some of the

suspects were arrested at the Sarajevo airport, while others

were stopped at border crossings in the northwestern region

of Bihac and the northern town of Maglaj. Bosnian

authorities estimate that around 200 Bosnian citizens have

already joined militant groups in Iraq and Syria.

Al Arabiya Turkish Weekly