On July 6, Kazakhstan celebrated Capital City Day in commemoration of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s 1994 decision to move the capital from Almaty in the south to Akmola in the north. The capital was subsequently renamed Astana but, following Nazarbayev’s sudden resignation, it has been... MORE

In a further sign of the rising importance of Cossack neo-imperial structures in Russia’s current political system, apparently President Vladimir Putin recently expressed support for the idea of creating Cossack battalions within the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia). The presidential envoy to the North Caucasus Federal... MORE

Combat ships lined the Neva River in St. Petersburg and crowded the harbor of the nearby Kronstadt naval base last Sunday (July 25) for the parade marking the 325th anniversary of Russia’s navy, the Military-Maritime Fleet (Voyenno-Morskoy Flot—VMF). It was only the sixth such Navy... MORE

The sudden collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in December 1991, and fracturing into 15 independent states effectively destroyed its unified, centrally planned, autarkic economy. The massive former Soviet defense sector was particularly hard-hit; during the 1990s, it scrambled to cope with... MORE

Perhaps not surprisingly, the development of railways in Central Asia and of shipping routes and pipelines across the Caspian Sea are routinely characterized as elements of geopolitical competition among major outside powers, including Russia, China, Turkey, the United States, Iran and India (see EDM, February... MORE

Despite another wave of deadly COVID-19 coronavirus infections ravaging Moscow and spreading out into the provinces, the Russian authorities went ahead with staging the MAKS-2021 air-and-space show on the outskirts of Moscow, in Zhukovsky. On opening day, July 20, President Vladimir Putin visited the exposition,... MORE

On July 15, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan reported that Armenia’s Armed Forces had attacked positions of the Azerbaijani Army in the direction of the recently liberated Kalbajar region (Mod.gov.az, July 15). The attack, conducted “using small arms,” was met with retaliation by the... MORE

Earlier this spring (March 22), the Russian government adopted the “Long-Term Program on the Development and Production of LNG” (Government.ru, March 22). The document highlights the strategic role of the Arctic region in the pursuit of Russia’s main goal—gaining a 20 percent share in the... MORE

The announcement, on Wednesday, July 21, of the agreement between the United States and Germany allowing for the completion of Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline project comes at a time when Russia is undertaking a full-scale effort to manipulate the European gas market, deplete... MORE

In Belarus, the government’s assault on media outlets and other entities with Western funding continues. Just on July 14, the authorities conducted searches of the offices of 23 entities, including the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, the Viasna Human Rights Center (connected to Human Rights Watch), the... MORE