*To read Part One, please click here.   Beginning in 2019, Russia intensified its outreach to some Central African countries—particularly, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo (hereafter, the Congo). Russian interests in the region are premised on a... MORE

A critical element in the reform and modernization of the Russian Armed Forces over the past dozen years has been the exponential development of electronic warfare (EW) capabilities. Prior to the reforms initiated in the fall of 2008, the military’s existing EW capabilities were disparate,... MORE

By April 25, Belarus, a country of 9.5 million residents, had registered 9,590 people who had tested positive for COVID-19; 67 of those infected had died; 1,573 patients had recovered; and a total of 139,000 tests had been conducted (ONT, April 25). A day earlier,... MORE

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed a growing public mistrust toward the Russian authorities. But at the same time, most Russians still believe state-promoted anti-Western conspiracy theories. The situation around the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in Russia is becoming increasingly tense. Russian officials now admit that existing... MORE

Plans for a new Baltic–Black Sea waterway, passing through Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, have the potential to revolutionize the geopolitics of Europe’s East as well as exacerbate East-West tensions (see EDM, February 18). The European Union has labeled the project “E40,” and the United States... MORE

Following the large coronavirus outbreak in Iran, neighboring countries quickly closed their borders with the Islamic Republic. More than a thousand Turkish trucks carrying goods to Central Asia found themselves stuck at checkpoints due to the closure of the Iran-Turkey and Iran-Turkmenistan borders (Daily Sabah,... MORE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an official visit to the southeastern coastal oblast of Zaporizhzhia, on April 11. During his trip, local officials familiarized the commander-in-chief with the operational situation in the Sea of Azov. Additionally, Zelenskyy visited the port of Berdyansk, located in close... MORE

Russia’s constellation of GLONASS navigation satellites are part of a dual-use system—available to both civilian users and the military. Moscow began deploying it during the 1980s–1990s, but its initial capabilities were almost fully lost by the year 2000, due to technical and economic shortcomings. However,... MORE

Although Russia had time to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic—the novel coronavirus arrived to Moscow, now the country’s hardest-hit urban center, only in the last week of March—the authorities were nonetheless caught badly unprepared. New infections are increasing by 4,500–6,000 per day; yet, the official... MORE

On April 15, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia briefed journalists that the government had agreed with international donors to allocate $3 billion to stabilize the economy, assist individuals affected by the developing economic crisis, and stimulate business in the post-crisis period (Interpressnews.ge, April 15). Georgia’s... MORE