With future prospects for the nuclear arms control regime uncertain and the Kremlin unable to play its traditional political game of summitting with Western leaders due to the COVID-19 pandemic and international condemnation of Russia’s violations of the chemical weapons ban treaty, Russian President Vladimir... MORE

The dispute in France over freedom of speech and sacred Islamic symbols that has embroiled the country following a series of attacks there by Islamist radicals has had unexpected reverberations inside the Russian Federation (see EDM, November 2). Chechnya’s governor, Ramzan Kadyrov, publicly clashed with... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. The protest movement under way in Belarus appears to the world as yet another “color revolution” for “regime change.” The target this time is the autocracy of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, following the rigged presidential election on August 9... MORE

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in fierce fighting in Karabakh since September 27. Unlike in most previous clashes over this Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territory, the present conflict has involved heavy and sophisticated weaponry wielded by both sides, but especially Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces. And while the... MORE

The political crisis in Belarus has reached either a stalemate or a crossroads that evades easy predictions as to where, when and how it will be resolved or alleviated. On the government side, the stalemate reveals itself in unusual nervousness. The country’s law enforcement chiefs... MORE

Vladimir Putin has relied heavily on television propaganda to build his power in Russia, and many have been so impressed by his success that they have ignored a development now placing that strategy at risk: ever fewer Russians are relying on state television and are... MORE

On October 12–16, peacekeeping forces of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) conducted the military exercise Unbreakable Brotherhood 2020, in northern Belarus (Mil.ru, October 12). Moscow and Minsk have dramatically augmented the extent of their military cooperation in response to the political upheaval that... MORE

The protest movement under way in Belarus appears to the world as yet another “color revolution” for “regime change.” The target this time is the autocracy of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s, following the rigged presidential election in August and disproportionate use of force against protesters from... MORE

The series of terrorist attacks in France, in late October, attracted much attention in Russia, sharply dividing public opinion and leaving President Vladimir Putin in an awkward limbo. The Kremlin leader excels at positioning himself as a counter-terrorist champion when the issue is clear and... MORE

On October 19–20, Tallinn, Estonia, hosted the fifth summit of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI), a forum for dialogue involving a dozen European Union member states located in Central and Eastern Europe (ERR, October 19). The regional initiative was informally inaugurated in September 2015, on... MORE