Of all the international borders in the Caucasus, the one between Azerbaijan and Georgia would appear to be the least problematic. The two countries have good relations as partners within GUAM (the loose political association of Georgia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova). And several key east-west... MORE

Belarus has never lacked for individuals benefiting from either Eastern or Western support. Their actions, however, often left Belarusians disappointed. September 17 marked the 79th anniversary of the unification of Belarus. Part of the reason this day is not a national holiday is that unification... MORE

In the run-up to Macedonia’s referendum on changing the country’s name (scheduled for September 30), the main focus of the government in Skopje has become ensuring a high turnout. In the current polarizing political environment, with President Gjorge Ivanov calling for a boycott of the... MORE

The destruction of an Il-20M radio-electronic surveillance aircraft, with 15 crew members aboard, in the late evening of September 17 was not the worst tragedy to date of the three-year-long Russian military intervention in Syria; but it has, perhaps, been the most difficult to explain... MORE

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has functioned under Russia-friendly chairmanships in the last three years: Germany (2016), Austria (2017) and Italy (2018). The heavyweight German chairmanship, under then–minister of foreign affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier (now head of state), launched a Moldova-Transnistria experiment... MORE

Perhaps no failure of Vladimir Putin’s casts a darker shadow on Russia’s future than the decisions he has made that increased Russian dependence on the export of raw materials. This economic reliance is today higher than it was at the time of the 2008 financial... MORE

The existence of special political indoctrination structures in the armed forces is an indispensable element of many authoritarian systems, something the armies of democratic states almost never possess. On July 30, the apparatus for indoctrinating military personnel returned to Russia. This is a crucially important... MORE

After protracted negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, hammered out a compromise, on September 17, in Sochi, to reinforce a fragile ceasefire in the so-called “deconfliction zone” in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. Since the beginning of 2018,... MORE

Three important books on Belarus released in the past two years shed new light on the complex debates over Belarusian identity. First, Alexander Nosovich, a political scientist with Belarusian roots but based in Kaliningrad, Russia, published the book Why Belarus Is Not a Baltic State... MORE

Russia held local gubernatorial elections in 26 regions across the country, on September 9. And the results were unprecedented when compared to the usual political outcomes of recent years (TASS, Meduza, September 10). In four regions (Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai, the Republic of Khakassia and... MORE