MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A meeting between Georgia’s special representative on Russia, Zurab Abashidze, and the Russian deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin has been postponed for the second time this month. Mr Abashidze and Mr Karasin were due to discuss bilateral ties. Georgia has said it supports the revolution in Ukraine, angering Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan issued a forceful statement on Ukraine which said emphatically that ousted president Viktor Yanukovych was no longer the country’s leader. Instead it said: “The only source of power in any country is its people.” Kyrgyzstan has ousted two presidents in revolutions since 2005.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Petrovietnam, Vietnam’s state-owned energy company, has agreed to buy 3.5m barrels of Azeri crude oil this year, it said in a statement. The deal is a significant success for Azerbaijan which is looking to extend its client base and its international standing.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s an unusual but, apparently, mutually beneficial deal. For the second year, Azerbaijan has agreed to sponsor the shirts of Spanish football team Atletico Madrid.
The new deal, for an unspecified amount, will mean that Atletico Madrid’s shirts carry the slogan “Azerbaijan: Land of Fire” until June 2015.
“In just one year, we have been able to project the image of Azerbaijan for the world and promote bilateral relations between our countries,” said Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo at a press conference.
It’s a relatively unusual approach for a sovereign state to sponsor a football team but Azerbaijan seems happy with the deal. The Qatar Foundation, run by the wife of Qatar’s ruler, sponsors Barcelona.
But, as is often the case with Azerbaijan, its sponsorship of Atletico Madrid has been mired by recent controversy.
Some Atletico Madrid players were encouraged to make youtube clips commemorating an alleged massacre by Armenian forces in 1992. A plan was also reportedly hatched by Azerbaijani officials for Atletico Madrid players to wear black armbands too. This was later scrapped.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in France ruled against extraditing Georgia’s former defence minister, Davit Kezerashvili, because the corruption case against him is potentially politically motivated. The ruling is a blow for Georgia’s government which has been pursuing ministers who worked under former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s parliament has pass a bill to tighten military ties with Armenia, local media reported. The bill is likely to mean an increase of military kit for Armenia from Russia. It is important for Armenia as it underlines Russia as one of its main backers.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan is not known as a global football powerhouse but Sepp Blatter, the president of the game’s global governing body FIFA, is due to visit for two days on March 24/25, media reported. During his visit, Mr Blatter will watch a local football match.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Unsurprisingly, perhaps, both ordinary Georgians and Georgia’s government have voiced their support for Ukraine’s revolution.
Hundreds of people protested outside Russia’s embassy in Tbilisi at what they said was Russian aggression in Ukraine. A few days earlier, Georgia had been one of the first countries to apparently recognise the post-revolution government in Ukraine as the legitimate authority.
“The Georgian Foreign Ministry hopes that the new government will take effective steps to meet expectations of the Ukrainian people,” Georgian media quoted its government as saying.
Fairly unequivocal and unsurprising.
But it’s a sensitive time for Georgia to start aligning itself with Moscow’s allies. The new Georgian government is only just patching up the wounds from the war it fought with Russia in 2008. High level meetings have been scheduled between officials from both sides. These meetings may now be under threat.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia will join the Russia-led Customs Union by mid-April, local media quoted deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan as saying.
His statement was a show of support from the Armenian government to Russia in its row with the West over Ukraine. Armenia has previously said it would not be ready to join the Customs Union — a loose economic bloc including Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan — until June.
The decision last year by Ukraine’s government to turn its back on the European Union in favour of closer ties with Russia, triggered demonstrations which culminated in his month’s revolution.
Armenia, though, has never wavered in its support for Russia. Its move towards the Customs Union and away from the European Union has broad public support.
Russian companies are one of the biggest investors in Armenia. Earlier this year Russian gas monopoly Gazprom completed the purchase of the Armenia gas network and oil company Rosneft has also pledged to invest $500m into a rubber plant outside Yerevan.
The Russian military also maintains one of its biggest overseas bases in Armenia which the public sees as a bulwark against potential Azerbaijani aggression. Also on March 1, one of the main opposition leaders in Armenia, former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan told his supporters at a rally in Yerevan that joining the Customs Union was the right move for Armenia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — For visitors to Kyrgyzstan’s main civilian airport, Manas, catching sight of US warplanes taking off in the distance used to be part of arriving in Bishkek. Not anymore.
As the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan continues these glimpses of the US military have become increasingly rare. It is quitting its airbase next to Manas civilian airport from where it has flown missions to Afghanistan since 2001.
Given Russian opposition to the facility, Kyrgyzstan’s leaders had few choices but to call time on the co-called Transit Center.
And this seems to suit locals.
“I have no problem with America but I don’t think we needed this base,” said Askar Bolotbayev, a Bishkek resident.
“It doesn’t provide us with electricity, it isn’t something we can export. We somehow survived before it and we will survive after it, too.”
Yet, with the centre worth roughly $200m to the anaemic Kyrgyz economy, Kyrgyzstan is keen to fill a hole by turning their main airport into something bigger and better.
Dair Tokobayev, an official at Manas airport, told local press that the government wanted to transform Manas into a regional transit hub.
But not without Russian backing, of course. Russian energy company Rosneft is reportedly considering buying a 51% stake in the airport.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
