The decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban the Russian delegation from the 2018 Winter Olympics was predictable—and the indignant response in Moscow was ready. Hesitant voices of clean athletes, who pleaded to be able to partake in the international competition under a... MORE

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are the only two countries of Central Asia that participate in regional economic integration as members of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). While bilateral relations have historically been cordial, with Kazakhstan actively supporting Kyrgyzstan’s efforts to modernize its economy and ensure... MORE

As 2017 draws to a close, Romania is doubling down on its defense posture. Through a series of transformative policies and military acquisitions, Bucharest is trying to meet the Russian challenge in the Black Sea and implement the decisions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s... MORE

Ever since President Vladimir Putin began his regional amalgamation campaign in 2003, and especially since he launched his attack on non-Russian languages last summer (see EDM, September 19), many non-Russians have regularly declared that the Kremlin leader is plotting to destroy the non-Russian republics and... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin (65) announced, on December 6, that he will in fact be running in the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for March 18, 2018. His main potential opponents from the official Duma opposition parties (the Communist party boss Gennady Zyuganov and the flamboyant... MORE

Belarus openly admits to pursuing a multi-directional foreign policy. And Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei has made multiple statements about the difficulties of balancing between East and West under growing tensions and belligerent rhetoric from both sides (see, for example, Belta, June 2). But if Belarus’s... MORE

Based on the words of the Russian leadership and the actions of local officials, the country has entered a new stage of confrontation with the West and now has to prepare for looming war. Speaking, on November 22, at a meeting of defense ministry leaders... MORE

Though Sudan’s national economy is near collapse, the November 23 visit of Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir to Russia’s top leadership in Sochi was dominated by expensive arms purchases and Sudan’s appeal to Russia for “protection from aggressive actions by the United States” (TASS, November 23;... MORE

Like his father Heydar Aliyev before him, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev remains committed to a balanced foreign policy, one that seeks to maintain good relations with both the Russian Federation and the West. But a series of Russian actions that Baku views as hostile have... MORE

A Russian court in occupied Sevastopol sentenced Ukrainian former military expert Dmitry Shtyblykov, on November 16, to five years imprisonment in a strict penal colony (Regnum, November 16). Shtyblykov worked at the think tank Nomos, which, prior to the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014,... MORE