Russia’s announcement, earlier this month, that it was negotiating the sale of helicopters to Pakistan (see EDM, June 24) may have backfired on Moscow, as it clearly underestimated the anger that this news has triggered in India and what it could portend for Russo-Indian relations. Whatever... MORE

When Western observers look at events in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other non-Western societies, more often than not they emphasize the actions of the politicians shaping those societies, not the societies generating a demand for a particular type of politician. Is Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s longevity at... MORE

Moscow’s much-advertised grand project in the North Caucasus since 2010, the creation of a ski tourism industry, has ceased to exist. In a speech to the Federation Council on June 18, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin said the government was suspending several projects within... MORE

Russia has used a recent military exercise to rehearse intervention in Central Asia to a strategic depth of 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles). Since the Ukraine crisis erupted earlier this year, the Kremlin has harnessed the tool of using “snap inspections” of combat readiness in the... MORE

On June 24, Circassian activist Andzor Kabard exposed the International Circassian Association (ICA) for having applied for Russian government funding to challenge other Circassian organizations. In revealing this fact, Kabard declared on Facebook that ICA no longer exists (facebook.com, June 24). ICA’s grant application title... MORE

Ukraine’s intelligence service has identified five centers within the Russian Federation where Moscow is recruiting and training mercenaries and diversionists to work against Ukraine in the eastern portions of that country and perhaps further west as well (Newsru.ua, June 28). Even more worrisome, according to... MORE

Ukraine has extricated itself from the trap of a unilateral ceasefire exploited by the Russian side. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had declared a seven-day ceasefire on June 20, and prolonged it again unilaterally from June 27 through June 30. Secessionist leaders announced a parallel ceasefire... MORE

Russia’s State Duma is expected to pass a law on how languages are taught in the country’s state schools. The proposed changes may have a significant impact on the ethnic republics within the Russian Federation. Intentionally diminishing the use of languages of minorities in Russia... MORE

While the dominant narrative in the West is that President Vladimir Putin is personally responsible for the crisis in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas and seeks to use it to Russia’s advantage, such a Manichean view disguises the nuances and complexities surrounding the issue.  One... MORE

The big picture of the Ukrainian conflict has changed significantly during the last week as this troubled state confirmed its hard-made European choice. The hundreds of rebels fighting in the trenches around Slavyansk and the hundreds of thousands of civilians, who are trying to make... MORE