The year 2013 was marked by Belarus’s deepening economic dependency on Russia. It became apparent that the generous socio-economic model of the Belarusian state—including heavily subsidized utilities and mortgage loans; free health care and education; a retention of the Soviet-era recreational facilities such as day... MORE

On December 18, 2013, the prosecution filed charges in a new case against Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava, the last major holdout official from the opposition United National Movement (UNM). The prosecution now alleges, in essence, that Ugulava had misappropriated 48 million lari (some $25 million)... MORE

The previous year, which ended so tragically for Russia with terrorist attacks in Pyatigorsk and Volgograd, was not an exceptional one for a country that has been mired in terrorism-related violence since the start of the second Russian-Chechen war in the fall of 1999.The terrorist... MORE

Two terrorist suicide bomb explosions in Volgograd (former Stalingrad)—on December 29 in the main city railroad station, and on December 30 on a packed city trolleybus—killed 34 people and injured more than 60. Russian officials believe the attacks were perpetrated by North Caucasian–based Salafi jihadist... MORE

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, in office since November 2013, has heralded a resurgence in politically-motivated prosecutions against officials of the previous government and current opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM) (see EDM, November 22, 2013; January 7, 2014). Recent developments in several high-profile... MORE

Although demonstrators still occupy the Maidan in central Kyiv and none of Ukraine’s fundamental issues that precipitated the crisis in late 2013 have been resolved, it is clear that the Russian “transfusion” of support for Ukrainian bonds and lower natural gas prices has given President... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych made a sensational U-turn last year, choosing Russian economic assistance over an association and free-trade deal with the European Union. The decision, which triggered the most massive anti-government protests since 2004, was dictated by a dismal state of the Ukrainian economy... MORE

On December 13, authorities in Krasnodar region briefly detained a dozen Circassian activists in a surprise police raid. Eleven persons from Adygea, Karachaevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria were taken to the city of Krasnodar for questioning, including Ibragim Yaganov, Amin Zekhov, Ruslan Kesh and other well-known leaders... MORE

Georgia’s Prosecutor-in-Chief Otar Partskhaladze had to resign on December 30, 2013, following disclosures that, in 2001–2002, he had served a sentence of one year and three months in a prison in Augsburg, Germany, for robbery and resisting the German police (Rezonansi cited by Interpressnews, December... MORE

Russian officials have repeatedly complained over the last 12 months that analysts in both Russia and the West will link, appropriately or not, everything that takes place in Russia before February 2014 with the Sochi Olympiad. There may be some justification for such complaints regarding... MORE