*To read Part One, please click here.   Russian experts and commentators have sought to draw key military lessons from the Second Karabakh War (September 27–November 9, 2020), which concluded in a decisive victory for the Azerbaijani side, actively supported by Turkey (see Part One... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian conferred on January 11, in the Kremlin, to assess the implementation of the Putin-brokered armistice that ended the Second Karabakh War on November 10, 2020 (see EDM, November 12, 13, 2020).... MORE

On January 11, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met at a trilateral summit in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the latter’s initiative (Kremlin.ru, January 11, 2021). The four-hour-long talks served as an important follow-up to the ceasefire statement... MORE

Thirty years ago tomorrow (January 13), Soviet forces fired at unarmed Lithuanians in Vilnius, killing 15 and thereby accelerating the recovery of the full independence of the Baltic countries as well as the demise of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Both the details... MORE

As in many other countries, COVID-19 dominated the agenda in Ukraine in 2020. Kyiv locked down domestic trade, services, education, and passenger transportation as well as closed its state borders earlier than did most neighboring countries in March. That swift reaction may explain why, during... MORE

It is worth recalling that 2019 was a year marked by domestic politics, reforms and broad caution about the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Experts and observers on all sides avoided rushing to quick judgements about whether the so-called Velvet Revolution that overtook Armenia in... MORE

Recovering from the long seasonal holiday break, Russia usually begins a new year with high hopes and low activity. But last year had a strikingly different start, as President Vladimir Putin produced one of his trademark surprises and introduced a rushed constitutional reform initiative, which... MORE

On December 29, 2020, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko stated that Russian energy supplies to Belarus in 2021 will be purchased under “favorable terms,” thus confirming that the months-long negotiations between the two countries had concluded (BelTA, December 29, 2020). The details of the bilateral... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. The Armenian government has yet to unveil the number of military casualties sustained during the Second Karabakh War (September 27–November 9, 2020). Almost two months after the ceasefire, the search for bodies is still ongoing across the theater;... MORE

The long-running demonstrations in Khabarovsk last year captured the imagination of Russians not only east of the Urals but west of it. At the same time, Moscow’s mishandling of Chinese involvement in the Russian economy has infuriated Siberians and Far Easterners as much at Moscow... MORE