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

On May 28, the Ukrainian military reportedly shot down a drone (unmanned aerial vehicle—UAV) that was taking images of a Ukrainian military base engaged in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) in Donetsk (Dzerkalo Tyzhnia May 28). The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) identified the drone as... MORE

Since Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, it has been clear that a conflict between Moscow and the Crimean Tatars was only a matter of time. Arguably, the Crimean Tatars, with an estimated population of only 250,000 (Ukrainian Census, 2001), cannot play an important role in... MORE

Ukraine’s unilateral ceasefire, announced by President Petro Poroshenko on June 20, expires today (June 27). Russia and its proxy forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (Donbas) have actively undermined the ceasefire, politically as well as militarily. The Russian side has undoubtedly sensed weakness in... MORE

On June 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin again denied the existence of a Ukrainian nation in its own right, distinct from Russia; and he went on to dismiss Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s June 20 ceasefire and peace offers as inadequate. The first part of Putin’s... MORE

On June 21, Ales Byalyatski, the best-known political prisoner of Belarus, was released. Byalyatski is a political activist known for his work for Viasna Human Rights Centre, of which he is the head. He is also the vice president of the International Federation for Human... MORE

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov stated recently that a new training center for special forces will be built on the territory of the Chechen Republic. Russian forces are expected to use the facility for training (rg.ru, June 21). “There are no similar centers in Russia and... MORE

On June 20, President Petro Poroshenko unveiled a “peace plan” in 15 points for resolving the armed conflict in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, parts of which have been seized by Russia’s proxy forces. On the same date, Poroshenko ordered a unilateral ceasefire, from June... MORE