Roscosmos, the Russian government corporation responsible for Moscow’s space program, is consuming ever larger amounts of budgetary funds but is failing to provide anything in return. That situation has led to frequent predictions the Russian space program is on the brink of collapse. Some even... MORE

The rich and powerful in Moscow were waiting with bated breath for the publication of the so-called “Kremlin Report,” mandated by the United States Congress under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The document, compiled by the Treasury Department and made public on... MORE

Russia, one of the world’s two largest nuclear powers, pursued internally contradictory and frequently inconsequential policies during 2017 when it came to questions of limiting further proliferation of these weapons or preserving important arms control treaties with the United States. And these policies can be... MORE

The predictability of the presidential elections in Russia, scheduled for March 18, forces the authorities to look for inventive ways to attract voters to the polls and ensure a high-enough turnout. When the result is known in advance, many people will surely prefer to ignore... MORE

On January 27, residents of Georgia’s northeastern village of Duisi, in Pankisi gorge, largely populated by Kists, a 40,000-strong ethnic minority related to the Chechen people, demanded that Georgia’s State Security Service (SSS) and the Chief Prosecutor meet with them to discuss details of a... MORE

From one perspective, China has enormous “soft power” in Central Asia, the ability, as Joseph Nye defined it (Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power, New York, 1990), “to persuade others to do what it wants without force or coercion.” It can and... MORE

On the eve of the presidential election in Russia, the Kremlin is looking for ways to build a case for lifting or weakening Western sanctions. Specifically, the Russian government has been trying to demonstrate a purported readiness to engage in dialogue over the “Ukrainian issue.”... MORE

The Pantsir (NATO classification: SA-22 Greyhound), produced by the Russian Military Industrial Complex, is a unique mobile short- to medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon system that has no known analogues in the United States Armed Forces. On January 23, the Russian side stated... MORE

The constitutional amendments Armenia adopted in December 2015 provided for a fundamental change—shifting from a presidential to a parliamentary system, but establishing a transitional period until the end of Serzh Sargsyan’s second presidential term in 2018. The new president elected by the National Assembly in... MORE

During Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s meeting in Washington with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on January 16, a suggestion reportedly came up to transfer the venue of talks and negotiations about the war in eastern Ukraine from Minsk to Astana. An avalanche of opinions followed.... MORE