Because Vladimir Putin has made the presence of ethnic Russians in other countries so central to his efforts to expand Moscow’s influence, their departure from any region or country means far more now than it did a decade ago. Nowhere has their exit been more... MORE

Russia’s national security documents have long made clear the extent to which the state relies upon nuclear deterrence to guarantee the survival of the Russian Federation. Consequently, a key component in its military modernization is to overhaul the existing nuclear triad in order to ensure... MORE

Following the devaluation of Azerbaijan’s national currency, the manat, in December 2015—the second in a year—the public has struggled to understand how this policy will affect their daily lives. The impact has become clearer during the first month of 2016: salaries have dropped dramatically, and... MORE

A new type of conflict is brewing between Ingushetia and North Ossetia. This time it is over the historical legacies of the Ingushetian and Ossetian people. In December, the government of Ingushetia erected the “Alania Gates” in the republican capital Magas. Speaking at the inaugural... MORE

Last week’s (January 26) reporting in the Western media that the United States government was linking Russian President Vladimir Putin to corruption has rocked Russian domestic politics. Specifically, a recent BBC documentary carried remarks to this effect by Acting US Treasury Department Under Secretary Adam... MORE

Since January 25, politically active Belarusians have been debating a violent incident involving Pavel Dobrovolsky, a correspondent of Tut.by, Belarus’s leading private news portal, who was allegedly beaten up by riot police on the premises of a district court in the city of Minsk. With... MORE

Up to now, the shaky ceasefire in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region has mostly continued to hold (see EDM, January 21). And thus, the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in early 2014, has returned near the top of Kyiv’s international agenda. Following the... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. Drawing together citizens of various ethnicities, divergent political affiliations, and fluid views on Moldova’s ultimate orientation (see Part One, EDM, January 28), recent massive social protests in Chisinau could mark the birth of a Moldovan civic identity, one... MORE

Ramzan Kadyrov and his Russian critics have squabbled for the last two weeks. Most of those who criticized Kadyrov are either members of the Russian political opposition or rights activists who are also opposed to President Vladimir Putin. Kadyrov regards all opposition to the Russian... MORE

As oil prices have gone down significantly, the consequences may go well beyond the depreciation of the Russian ruble and Russia’s economic decline. Armenian Deputy Minister of Finance, Pavel Safaryan, recently stated that some of loans previously promised by Russia, including the $270 million loan... MORE