Amidst the Russian government reshuffle and constitutional revisions (see EDM, January 16, 20, 2020), the only international set of troubles that President Vladimir Putin had time to address in the last couple of weeks was the Middle East. He visited Syria and Turkey in the... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here.   Russia uses a strict-constructionist approach to defend the Minsk “accords” of 2014 and 2015 and the negotiation formats (“Normandy Quartet” and the “Contact Group on Ukraine”) that it imposed on Ukraine five years ago under military duress.... MORE

In the wake of last month’s (December 2019) “Normandy” summit (see EDM, December 11, 12, 2019), and awaiting the same forum’s April 2020 top-level meeting, Ukrainian officials are airing proposals to revise the Kremlin-imposed Minsk “accords” of 2014 and 2015. The “accords,” designed to legalize... MORE

Following its forcible annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Russia has taken a variety of steps to project its power over the adjacent Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov, upsetting the legal balance that had been in place as a result of a 2003 agreement... MORE

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Libyan regime of Muammar Qaddafi was Moscow’s ally in the Cold War against the West, and consequently it acquired many billions of dollars’ worth of Soviet weapons. In more recent years, President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Armed Forces and... MORE

The stalemate continues regarding Russia’s oil and natural gas prices for Belarus and the ensuing lack of long-term delivery contracts. No less newsworthy is the wide selection of opinions about the deadlocked negotiations. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka claims that Russia wants to sell Belarus oil at... MORE

On January 1, the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) LLC began transporting Russian natural gas to Europe under a new five-year transit agreement (Gordonua.com, January 1, 2020). This contract (consistent with European Union regulations) was signed by representatives of the Ukrainian energy firm... MORE

Since the final collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, in August 2019, accusations and denials have abounded between Moscow and Washington concerning the controversial issue of the cruise missile range of the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system (Operativno-Takticheskiy Raketnyy Kompleks—OTRK). Moscow strenuously denies... MORE

Both individually and as a group, the six non-Russian republics of the Middle Volga—Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Udmurtia, Mordvinia, Mari El and Chuvashia (collectively known as the Idel-Ural)—have become a radically more serious problem for Moscow over the last year, challenging it in new ways and old.... MORE

On January 20, Chechnya’s strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov, reappeared in public after more than a week of absence. Kadyrov presided over a government meeting in Grozny, at which he stated that he had no plans to take up employment outside the republic (Chechnya.gov.ru, January 20, 2020).... MORE