In reply to Western sanctions over the Ukrainian crisis, the Russian government has announced a sweeping ban on the import of meat and meat products, fish and sea food, cheese, milk and milk products, as well as fruit and vegetables from the United States, the... MORE

On July 10–12, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu paid an official visit to Uzbekistan—the first one by a Turkish foreign minister in 13 years—in the hopes of bringing about a détente to the two countries’ frozen relations (Daily Sabah, July 10). Turkey was among the... MORE

The Russian government has announced the imminent suspension of the Free Trade Regime between the Russian Federation and Georgia, which had been in place since 1994, following Georgia’s accession to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (Civil Georgia, July 31). Moscow established the same regime... MORE

On July 10, Tatyana Golikova, chairperson of the Audit Chamber, Russia’s independent state budgetary watchdog agency, spoke about the country’s highly subsidized regions at a government meeting in Moscow. The Audit Chamber reviewed budget execution in seven highly subsidized regions to determine how well such... MORE

In the wake of the newest sanctions on Russia by the European Union and the United States, Washington is seeking to persuade its Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, to follow suit (Yonhap July 31; Korea Times Online, July 29). While South Korea has hesitated... MORE

The annual celebration of Russia’s elite Airborne Forces (Vozdushno Desantnye Voyska—VDV) on August 2, 2014, combined shows of strength with loutish behavior. Traditional displays of strength range from breaking bricks on VDV personnel, hand-to-hand combat and other macho shows. Celebration is less restrictive, especially among... MORE

On August 1, at Moscow’s Poklonnaya Hill military memorial, President Vladimir Putin inaugurated a monument to Russian soldiers who fought in the First World War. On the hundredth anniversary of that war’s outbreak, the Kremlin has decided retroactively to honor those soldiers as heroes, and... MORE

Nikolai Petrov, the well-known economist from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, has scathingly criticized the glowing reports made by Ingushetia’s Governor Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. In an article, published by the Vzglyad website on July 28, Petrov pointed out that Ingushetia’s economy showed some positive dynamics, but... MORE

With the implementation of new Western sanctions against Russia as a result of the continued instability in eastern Ukraine, the other post-Soviet countries are closely monitoring foreign policy developments inside the United States. The rapidly cooling relations between Washington and Moscow were most recently borne... MORE

Bad news hit the Kremlin thick and fast last week, but on Friday evening (August 1), President Vladimir Putin answered a phone call from US President Barack Obama, who again stressed that the Kremlin’s mounting problems can be resolved diplomatically (whitehouse.gov, August 1). Putin’s personal... MORE