After the liquidation of the Independent Institute for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS—see EDM, September 7, 2016), no polling agency, state-run or independent, has conducted and published regular national surveys. From time to time, however, the void is filled by reliable sources. Thus, in April,... MORE

With Azerbaijan and Pakistan currently pursuing a strategic partnership (see EDM, September 28, 2016; December 15, 2016), Armenia and India have decided to step up their cooperation across several dimensions. Indeed, the past six months were marked by a visible reinvigoration of Armenian-Indian bilateral ties,... MORE

Since the start of 2017, the amount of cargo passing through Russian ports on the Caspian Sea has fallen, compared to last year, by 48.4 percent to only 1.1 million tons, according to the Russian Ports Association. This figure is striking given that Russian ports... MORE

The Russian Supreme Court ruled, on May 15, to revoke the registration of the All-Russia Azerbaijanis Congress (ARAC), the largest and most influential Azerbaijani Diaspora organization in Russia. The initial decision came on March 9, at the request of the Russian Ministry of Justice, which... MORE

In January 2015, in the aftermath of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and calls by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States for Allies to increase their defense budgets, Romania decided to allocate 2 percent of its GDP for its Armed Forces. President... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. With the new landing ship Ivan Gren expected to be handed over to the Russian Navy later this year, the country is clearly trying to preserve its amphibious assault capabilities (see Part One in EDM, May 17). After... MORE

The last several weeks were quite tumultuous for Georgia. The country experienced a heightened level of Russian intimidation and ended up on the receiving end of several humiliating statements by high-ranking Russian politicians. The first such incident involved the so-called Night Wolves, a Russian biker... MORE

Last February, Russian President Vladimir Putin recommended to the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, that the municipal administration demolish the city’s khrushchevki—five-story apartment buildings built in the 1950s–1960s and colloquially named after Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet General Secretary at the time. The current residents of... MORE

Last week’s (May 10) visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Washington to meet with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as well as President Donald Trump in the White House was seen in Moscow as the beginning of the long-awaited defrosting of previously... MORE

In spite of a blockade on shipments of anthracite coal from occupied Donbas to Ukrainian thermal power plants (TPPs) since this past winter, the country has thus far avoided blackouts. Moreover, Ukraine has managed to increase power generation by 2.1 percent year over year in... MORE