The age of warlords in Afghanistan may finally be ending. The beginning of the end started before Afghanistan attracted the world’s attention on September 11, 2001: thus, September 9, 2018, marked the death, 17 years ago, of Ahmad Shah Masoud, a Tajik commander who was... MORE

Much of the recent focus on Russia has been on the World Cup and the Helsinki Summit, but Russians domestically have not forgotten about the government’s controversial ongoing pension reform plan. The population is extremely unhappy with the proposal to raise the pension age from... MORE

Since 1991, Moscow has generally been careful to send Russian ambassadors with impeccable diplomatic credentials to the post-Soviet states. Nevertheless, many non-Russians have still suspected some of these diplomats of being officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB—one of the main successor agencies of the... MORE

Since the 2014 EuroMaidan revolution, a series of “de-Communization” efforts have been taking place in Ukrainian regions and cities across the country. One of the main streets in the resort town of Zaporozhia, for example, has been changed from Lenin Street to Cathedral Street. Of... MORE

Only hours after United States President Donald Trump suggested Moscow should be admitted back into the G7, the US Treasury Department levied new sanctions against Russian businesses (Treasury.gov, June 11). The latest sanctions include five high-technology companies. Most of them fall under the umbrella of... MORE

The fifth meeting of the Forum of Free Russia was held on April 11–12, in Vilnius, Lithuania (Forumfreerussia.org, April 13). The event, held twice a year, gathered about 300 representatives of the Russian political émigré community. But as the organizer of the Forum, Ivan Tyutrin,... MORE

In terms of the United States’ sanctions policy toward Russia, the effect on Russian aviation production and the country’s domestic airlines is an important and often overlooked story. On one hand, US sanctions threaten to hurt Russian airlines, forcing them to use fewer Western-made aircraft.... MORE

Russia is well-known for having connections to the political far right in Europe, but its links to the European far left are just as firmly established. This was affirmed once again by invitations made to Italy’s Stefano Valdegamberi (affiliated with the far-right Lega Nord) and... MORE

After much debate, Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev has approved a new Latin-based alphabet for the titular language of his country. The new alphabet will not include apostrophes as did the Latin script he approved earlier. The adoption of the new alphabet will have three significant... MORE

On Sunday, January 28, demonstrations and protests organized by Alexei Navalny shook Russia once again, this time calling for what he has called “Voters’ strike” protests. While Navalny’s website claims these protests took place in 118 cities across Russia (Navalny.com, January 28), the authorities counted... MORE