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11/17/14 11/21/14

The Co-Chair of the Minsk Group expressed their concern


at the lack of humanitarian access to the crash site of the
Armenian helicopter that was downed by Azerbaijani
forces last week. The wreckage of the helicopter lies in
heavily mined area of neutral territory on the Line of
Contact. We call on the sides to cease firing the vicinity
of the crash site and facilitate the demining of the area
surrounding the site, the statement said.
ITAR-TASS

Tred.az

In Tbilisi last weekend, approximately 30,000 Georgians


protested the countrys policy towards Russia and Russias
support of separatists in two breakaway regions, South
Ossetia and Abkhazia. Opponents of the measure, supported
by former president Mikheil Saakashvilis party, United
National Movement, have argued that the current political
coalition, the Georgian Dream, has not confronted what
appears to be creeping Russian annexation of the two
regions.
RFE/RL
Deutsche Welle

The Armenian government launched an online portal this week


aimed at helping Armenian citizens living abroad to return
home. The site, called tundarc.am (literally back to home),
will provide all necessary information regarding procedures
for returning back to Armenia, including receiving answers to
questions directly from Armenian officials. Approximately
2,000 Armenians have returned to the country in the last year.
Arka

Armenpress

Turkish authorities announced that they will proceed with


the controversial redevelopment of Istanbuls Gezi Park, the
site of widespread anti-government protests in 2013. The
plan costs $5.4 million and provides for the reconstruction
of an Ottoman-era army barracks on the site. The
municipality, governed by the ruling AKP party, clarified
that the plan would be subject to a pending court ruling and
put to a referendum.
Al Jazeera

Todays Zaman

President Vladimir Putin attended the G20 summit in


Brisbane, Australia this weekend, where the conversation
largely focused on Russian aggression in Ukraine and
international sanctions. Putin was threatened with additional
sanctions if Russia does not withdraw troops and weapons
from southeastern Ukraine, with some leaders even
referencing a potential frozen conflict in the region. Putin
ended up leaving the conference early.
Moscow Times

Reuters

American Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Kyiv on


Thursday to meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
While there, Biden announced that the U.S. would increase
the amount of non-lethal aid that it would provide to Ukraine.
Among the new provisions will be the first Humvees, and
radar units that can detect enemy mortars. The trip was made
a day after the American National Security Council
announced the detection of Russian MiG-31 fighter jets along
Ukraines eastern border.
Washington Post

Reuters

President Alexander Lukashenko spoke to students and


professors at the Belarusian State Pedagogical University.
Lukashenko noted during his speech that he hates
nationalists as they lead the society to a catastrophe as it
happened in Ukraine. Lukashenko said that language should
not create problem within the Belarusian society. The
language cannot and should not be used to cause the
discord, he was quoted saying.
Belta

Charter 97

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Polish President


Bronislaw Komorowski met with Moldovan President
Nicolae Timofti on Thursday in Chisinau. The three leaders
discussed the upcoming Moldovan elections, addressing
fears that Russia may try to meddle in the outcome, as well
as the current situation in southeastern Ukraine. The
meeting has been seen as a boost to Moldovas pro-Western
political parties, which currently have a slight lead in the
polls.
ABC
News.pl

Last week Kyrgyz and Russian authorities opened formal


investigations into kerosene smuggling from the Russian
airbase in Kant, Kyrgyzstan. The investigations followed an
October 7 incident where a truck leaving the Kant airbase
was caught carrying 13 tons of stolen kerosene. Ruslan
Umarov, head of the investigation for the State Service
against Economic Crimes, admitted that kerosene smuggling
implicated Russian troops and that several suspects were
under investigation.
Stan Radar

Vecherniy Bishkek

The intelligence agency of Kazakhstan has estimated that


around 300 Kazakh nationals are fighting in Syria and Iraq
with the Islamic State (IS). The Kazakh militants within IS
have formed their own fighting unit. Half of those fighting
in Iran and Syria are women. The government is concerned
that the involvement of Kazakhs with ISIS might bring
insecurity to the country after the NATO mission to
Afghanistan comes to an end.
Trend.az

RFE/RL

EBRD President Chakrabarti made his first official visit to


Tajikistan this week, marking the first time in nine years that a
president of the EBRD has visited the country. Chakrabarti
signed financing agreements with two companies during the
visit, one with IMON International, a microfinance institution,
and another with Schiever Tajikistan, which plans to open the
countrys first modern supermarket. Chakrabarti praised
Tajikistans improved ranking in the World Bank Doing
Business report and emphasized EBRDs commitment to the
country.
Azer News
Astana Times

Norways government summoned Telenor Chairman Svein


Aaser for a meeting to explain reports alleging that
VimpelCom had paid bribes to gain business in Uzbekistan.
Norways government owns a 54 percent share of Telenor,
while Telenor holds 33 percent of VimpelCom, a Russian
phone carrier. Allegations emerged last week that
VimpelCom might have transferred bribes amounting to
$55 million to Uzbek authorities.
Reuters

Bloomberg

A truck bomb exploded near a foreign security compound in


Kabul on Tuesday killing two guards and two attackers, and
wounding three additional people. The Afghan Taliban have
taken responsibility for the incident. The attack was the latest
in a recent string of suicide explosions in the city. In the past
week, the chief of police and a prominent female legislator
were also targeted. Although both survived, at least three
other people were wounded in the attempt.
Fox News

UPI

Thousands of people across Iran joined spontaneous crowds


to mourn the death of 30-year-old Iranian pop singer Morteza
Pashaei, who passed away on Friday. Masses of young
people who flocked to Tehrans Behesht-e Zahra cemetery
on Sunday prompted police in riot gear to close the cemetery
and led to the postponement of the funeral. Witnesses
reported arrests in the northeastern city of Mashhad, where
police attempted to disperse the crowds. The crowds were
among the largest seen since the 2009 protests.
Reuters

New York Times

On Tuesday, Italian oil and gas company Eni signed a series


of agreements with Turkmenistan to expand its operations in
the country. Eni extended an onshore production sharing
agreement until February 2032 and transferred a 10 percent
stake in the block to Turkmen state-owned oil company
Turkmenneft. Eni and Turkmenneft also signed a
memorandum agreeing to explore the possibility of extending
Enis activities to Turkmenistans offshore sector.
Reuters

Oil & Gas Technology

A new visa-free regime between Russia and Mongolia


began on November 14. Vladimir Goryachev of the
Russian Embassy in Mongolia called a press conference in
which he announced that Mongolians will be able to stay in
Russia - and Russians in Mongolia - for 30 days without a
visa. The counselor qualified the new regime by
announcing that the overall duration of the stay cannot
exceed 90 days over six months.
Info Mongolia

ITAR-TASS

Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas said that he awaits


NATO to increase its military presence in the Baltic region,
as agreed in September at the NATO summit in Wales.
Roivas made a statement at a meeting with NATO Secretary
General Jens Stoltenberg who arrived in Estonia on a oneday visit. Stoltenberg commented that Russias growing
military presence in Baltic airspace poses risks to civil
aviation.
Associated Press

Sputnik

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite called Russia a


terrorist state in an interview with the national radio. "If a
terrorist state that is engaged in open aggression against its
neighbor is not stopped, then that aggression might spread
further into Europe, she said. In response to Grybauskaite, a
communist party MP of the Russian Federation suggested
that Moscow should cease diplomatic ties with Vilnius and
introduce further sanctions.
Baltic Times

Russia Today

Former Latvian parliamentarian Aleksejs Holostovs was


supposedly expelled from Russia on charges of espionage.
According to a Russian report, Holostovs was quoted saying
that he was working for CIA-controlled Latvian special
services to gather information on popular discontent with
Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, a Latvian news
agency has said that Holostovs was surprised at the
allegation and had no knowledge of being deported. Neither
Russian nor Latvian authorities have specified the exact
date of Holostovss deportation.
Moscow Times
RFE/RL

On Monday, Czech Republic celebrated the 25th


Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. President Milos
Zeman stood together with German, Hungarian, Slovak and
Polish presidents at the university campus where the
demonstrations started a quarter century ago. However, the
event turned into a protest against Zeman himself. He was
pelted with objects including eggs, sandwiches and tomatoes.

The Washington Times

The Guardian

Local elections were held in Slovakia on Sunday, November 15.


Independent candidates saw success across the country, earning
37.95 percent of mayoral seats and 28.91 percent of local
council seats. Smer was the most successful political party,
earning 29.11 percent of mayoral seats and 28.91 percent of
local council seats. The Christian Democrats (KDH) and the
ethnic Hungarian parties Hungarian Community Party (SMK)
and Most-Hd also won seats.
The Slovak Spectator

The Global Times

More than 10,000 Hungarians took to the streets on Monday


to protest against alleged corruption and centralization of
power of the Hungarian government. The protesters are
demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister. The
publics dissatisfaction with the policies of the Fidesz party
is growing. Western countries have criticized Orbans
policies. The U.S. recently banned six Hungarian officials
from entering the country on the grounds of corruption.
The Economist

Portfolio.hu

According to exit polls, Polands ruling center-right party


Opposition candidate Klaus Iohannis, mayor of the
Civic Platform (PO) lost Sundays provincial assembly
Transylvanian city of Sibiu, won a surprise victory in
elections to the Law and Justice Party (PiS). Polands election
Romanias second round of presidential elections on Sunday.
commission PKW announced that the release of official
Current Prime Minister Victor Ponta had been leading in
election results has been delayed due to technical problems, but
opinion polls but conceded late Sunday night. Mr. Iohannis
exit polls showed that conservative opposition party Law and
victory in the runoff election appears to be due to the support of
Justice won 31.5 percent of votes for members, compared to
the large Romanian diaspora, which turned out to vote in record
27.3 percent for Civic Platform and 17 percent for junior
numbers. Mr. Iohannis has promised to fight corruption and
of-cease-fire-deal?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world
coalition
partner Peasants Party (PSL).
strengthen the independence of the judicial system.
Wall Street Journal

Reuters

BBC

Reuters

Bulgarias Finance Ministry is exploring options of ways to


raise 4.5 billion levs ($2.9 billion) before the end of the year
to finance increased spending and prop up the banking
system. Bulgaria is in talks to borrow 2-3 billion levs in
bridge financing from foreign banks and aims to raise another
2 billion levs on the local market. Bulgaria plans to allocate
1.6 billion levs to finance the budget deficit, 2 billion levs to
the Deposit Insurance Fund to cover guaranteed deposits at
Corpbank and 900 million levs to provide liquidity support to
local banks.
Novinite
Reuters

On Wednesday, severe flooding from torrential rainfall killed


three people as power and water were cut off in much of the
countrys west and south. Two perished as their car was swept
away by floodwaters in Lac, while the third motorcycle driver
was also found dead in Lac. The rainfall also affected the
capital Tirana and the port city of Durres. The government put
the army on standby to help emergency workers with
evacuation and rescue efforts as heavy rain continues.
ABC

Focus

Russian FM spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich says that


Moscow opposes attempts by the European Union to force
Serbia into adopting sanctions against Russia. The statement
comes after a European Commission report on enlargement
in October that said Belgrades refusal to follow the EUs
lead on sanctions could endanger Belgrades membership
bid. However, on November 18, an EU Enlargement
Negotiation commissioner claimed there was no linkage.
RFE/RL

ITAR-TASS

On Tuesday, the Macedonian government requested a twoday investigation within relevant state institutions on reexported agricultural products from the EU to Russia.
Russia claims that banned foodstuffs from the EU have
been finding their way into Russia through Macedonia, and
they announced that they will begin scrutinizing quantities
of Macedonian products to see if there have been any
suspicious increases.
MINA

Global Post

The Union of European Football Associations charged the


Croatian Football Federation over racist behavior of Croatian
fans during the Italy-Croatia draw on November 16. Croatia
also faces charges of crowd disturbances related to fans
setting off fireworks and throwing flares onto the field at San
Siro Stadium. UEFAs ethics and disciplinary body will hear
the case on December 11. Croatian coach Niko Kovac said
that he expected UEFA punishment after the game.
BBC

USA Today

The Russian Federation has banned the import of meat from


Montenegro the Russian Agricultural Watchdog
Rosselkhoznadzor announced on November 18. The decision
has been made to prevent the EU member states from export
meat through Montenegro, avoiding the ban on food product
imports imposed by Russia. Russia plans to introduce a
similar restriction for Albania and Macedonia if the countries
dont dispel the doubts as the head of the watchdog was
quoted saying.
Balkans.com
ITAR-TASS

On Wednesday, President Atifete Jahjaga announced that


Kosovos two largest parties had agreed in principle to
form a coalition, ending five months of political deadlock.
The agreement was reached between Prime Minister
Hashim Thaci of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK)
and Isa Mustafa of the rival Democratic League of Kosovo
(LDK). Kosovos parliament has struggled to form a
coalition since the June 8 elections, leading to fears of
potential bankruptcy as its politicians have been unable to
vote on the budget.
Al Jazeera
Reuters

On Thursday, Chinas vice Premier Wang Yang arrived in


Slovenia to promote Chinese investment to the country.
Wang appeared with Slovenian counterpart Dejan Zidan,
saying that, China can provide a huge market and
sufficient funds for Slovenia. Wangs delegation includes
150 businessmen and focuses on possible investments in the
countrys main Adriatic port in Koper, transportation
infrastructure, and state companies to be privatized.
Capital FM

STA

On Monday, Bosnian police arrested 12 Bosnian Serbs on


charges of crimes against humanity related to attacks in the
countrys 1992-95 war in which 150 Muslim Bosniaks,
including women and children, were killed and dumped in
mass graves. The mass grave was uncovered last year near
Prijedor, believed to hold the remains of around 1,000
victims.
Reuters

IBT

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