Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
Belarusian Protests Through Emotional Versus Analytical Lenses
Narratives devoted to the ongoing political turmoil in Belarus fall into two basic categories: emotional and analytical. Attempts to mix both genres do not succeed. “Even if the Belarusian revolution [sic] ends in defeat, it will still go down in history and will have a... MORE
Poland’s Intermarium Idea Very Different From What It Was—or What Moscow Thinks It Is
Russian analysts fail to recognize that Warsaw no longer views the Intermarium—a historical term that today refers to the lands “in between” Russia and the West and the Baltic and Black Seas—as it did in the 1920s and 1930s but rather conceives it as a... MORE
The Northeastern Dimension of Russia’s ‘Ocean Shield 2020’ Naval Exercises (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. Between late July and August 31, forces from Russia’s Northern, Black Sea, Pacific and Baltic fleets took part in the large-scale Ocean Shield 2020 naval military exercises, subsequently held in the western and then northeastern theaters (Portnews.ru,... MORE
Ukrainian Reverberations of the Wagner Arrests in Belarus: Russian Disinformation?
A scandal surrounding the alleged “betrayal” by a high-ranking official of the presidential administration is rapidly gaining momentum in Ukraine. The situation curiously concerns the detention of 33 mercenaries from the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner Group, in Belarus, on July 29. According to... MORE
Russia’s Kavkaz 2020: International Participation and Regional Security Implications
Despite some disruptions to this year’s military training schedule caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (see EDM, April 21, 22), the Russian Armed Forces are preparing to hold their annual capstone strategic-operational exercise on September 15–26. “Kavkaz 2020” (“Caucasus 2020”) will feature large-scale drills spread across... MORE
Russia Alarmed and Awed by the Belarusian Revolution
Five weeks of peaceful mass protests in Belarus after the falsified elections on August 9, have profoundly changed this formerly rather stable and conservative country, impressed its European neighbors, and set a sharp challenge for Russia, which is tied to this partner in a peculiar... MORE
Azerbaijani President Rebukes Putin Over Russian Military Cargo Deliveries to Armenia
The Kremlin’s website reported, on August 12, that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had initiated a phone call to congratulate Vladimir Putin on the Russian vaccine against COVID-19 and to discuss bilateral issues. The next day, however, in a wholly unprecedented move, Aliyev’s press service sharply... MORE
Lukashenka Threatens to Shut Belarusian-Baltic Transit Routes: Who Will Suffer Most?
On August 28, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka threatened to redirect all of his country’s trade flows as well as the transit of foreign goods across its territory from Lithuanian ports to Ust-Luga and Primorsk, in Russia’s Leningrad Oblast, if Europe were to impose anti-Belarus sanctions... MORE
The Northeastern Dimension of Russia’s ‘Ocean Shield 2020’ Naval Exercises (Part One)
Between August 3 and 31, forces from the four Russian fleets—Northern, Pacific, Black and Baltic—took part in the country’s annual “Ocean Shield” large-scale naval military exercises. Supervised by the Military-Maritime Fleet’s (Voyenno-Morskoy Flot—VMF) commander-in-chief, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, Ocean Shield 2020 involved a broad range of... MORE
Russia Poised to Arbitrate Regime Change in Belarus (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. Regime change remains Moscow’s political objective in Belarus (see Part One). This is defined as easing out President Alyaksandr Lukashenka with his assent, as part of an internal constitutional settlement. Russia wants this settlement to be negotiated... MORE