Internet connectivity in Belarus saw significant disruption following the country’s presidential election on Sunday, August 9. The shutdown is widely believed to be a state-sanctioned effort to reduce the effectiveness of protests following the disputed vote, in which Alyaksandr Lukashenka sought a sixth term in... MORE

The eventful presidential campaign in Belarus has left the incumbent, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, more isolated from his main external interlocutors. The West remains critical of the Belarusian authorities’ repeated civil rights violations, while the recent incident involving the arrest of 33 Wagner Group mercenaries upended what was... MORE

On November 19, Estonian Interior Minister Mart Helme, who chairs the far-right Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), surprised members of his government with comments to a Finnish newspaper that Tallinn was preparing a “plan B” in case the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “fails.”... MORE

On October 24, Russia concluded its Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, seeking to deepen Moscow’s relations with the continent. Notably, security cooperation formed a key component of the agenda (Summitafrica.ru, October 24). However, Russian security operations in Africa prove more nuanced, as Russia deploys private military... MORE

Yauheni Preiherman gave an extensive interview to Nasha Niva, an outlet catering to Belarusian Westernizing nationalists (Nasha Niva, October 16). Unlike the Warsaw-based Charter97 and Belsat, which tend to fervidly criticize President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Nasha Niva is more levelheaded and produced in Minsk. Preiherman is... MORE

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei gave an interview to several non-state news organizations, including Tut.by, Euroradio, Nasha Niva and the Belarusian Service of Radio Liberty (Tut.by, October 17). During the interview, Makei was repeatedly asked whether or not the ongoing integration talks with Russia would... MORE

Street protests continue against the leader of the Buddhist province of Kalmykia and look set to escalate, with a large demonstration planned for October 27. The protests concern the appointment of the former head of the self-proclaimed and Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Dmitry Trapeznikov,... MORE

The authorities of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) are apparently seeking to extend their control over society in this Russian-occupied and Moscow-backed eastern Ukrainian region. As one notable sign of this trend, the newly created council of Luhansk atamans (Cossack leaders) recently met in... MORE

On July 3, Belarus celebrated its Independence Day. Belarus is the only post-Soviet country whose major national holiday is an anniversary of the liberation of its capital city from Nazi German invaders (July 3, 1944). The Independence Days of other post-Soviet states tend to either... MORE