Eurasia Week in Review - July 7, 2014
The Russian military held exercises in Armenia and Central Asia, while several reports confirmed the presence of Central Asian militants in Iraq and Syria. Read these top stories and other news highlights from Central Eurasia below.
· The Russian military held large-scale exercises in Armenia and Central Asia. Robert McDermontt of Eurasia Daily Monitor stated these snap exercises were designed to rehearse a potential military intervention in Central Asia. Russia also ratified a 2013 agreement on military agreement with Armenia. 
· New reports confirmed the presence of Kazakh and Kyrgyz citizens fighting alongside ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq. Kyrgyz authorities stated there were at least 80 confirmed Kyrgyz citizens fighting in Syria. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) also claimed responsibility for two attacks on Pakistani airports in June. These developments have renewed concerns over the rise of religious extremism and terrorism in Central Asia.
· Nasimi Aghayev, Consul General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, wrote in an op-ed for The Hill that the fragile ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict represents an enormous threat to regional security and U.S. interests, which include Azerbaijan’s oil and gas pipelines to the West and its geostrategic location between Europe and the Middle East. He argued the U.S. should “be more active and forthright in leading the global community to condemn Armenia for the occupation,” and “impose sanctions on Armenia to compel it to behave lawfully and responsibly.”
U.S. Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman, Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ), called for a special envoy to be named to mediate between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), noted Azerbaijan’s “strategic partnership” with the U.S., but added the Commission will continue to pressure the Azerbaijani government on human rights issues.
Despite U.S. assurances to condemn human rights violations , the Azerbaijani government closed down the U.S. National Democratic Institute office in Baku after the authorities accused the organization of financing subversive youth against the government. Human rights organizations continue to raise concern over Azerbaijan’s crackdown on civil society and freedom of expression.
· A new report from the Afghanistan Analysts Network, “Between Cooperation And Insulation: Afghanistan’s Relations with the Central Asian Republics,” describes the trans-border narcotics trade between Afghanistan and Central Asia.
The report’s authors argue Western counternarcotics policies in the region ignore the fact that their primary partners, Central Asian governments, are the primary beneficiaries of drug trafficking:
"[S]ecurity risks that link Afghanistan to the former Soviet republics of Central Asia are often highly exaggerated, especially so the alleged link between narcotics trafficking and radical Islamist groups. In reality, throughout Central Asia the main players in narcotics trafficking are government employees, security officers and mafia figures," the report says. "Throughout Central Asia the narcotics trade has deeply penetrated the economic, social, political and security structures and created mutually beneficial relations. Powerful government and security figures use state resources and structures to actively assist and/or control this trade in cooperation with powerful mafia leaders."
The U.S. gave over $4.2 million in counternarcotics support to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in 2012.
· The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) trained military officials from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in conflict prevention.
· A meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) took place in Kazakhstan. CIS defense ministers discussed military cooperation among CIS member states and reviewed issues related to cooperation in the area of military education.
· NATO updated its cyber defense policy to define a cyberattack as equivalent as an attack with conventional weapons, and therefore covered by Article 5 of the treaty.