Bulgaria scrapped plans to build its second 2,000-megawatt Belene nuclear power plant (Belene NPP) on the Danube River (Trud, Capital, Dnevnik, BNT, March 28). The Belene NPP is the second Bulgarian-Russian energy project that Sofia quit in the last four months. In December 2011, Sofia... MORE

The Russian parliamentary elections in December 2011 inspired a wave of demonstrations against graft corruption and a rigged vote, as well as political rumblings across the country. Yet, in spite of it all, Vladimir Putin won a resounding victory in Russia’s March 4th presidential elections... MORE

Several Eurasian leaders were among the 54 heads of state, deputy prime ministers, or foreign ministers who attended the March 26-27 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea. The main objective of the summit was to prevent non-state actors such as terrorists or criminals from... MORE

A car being driven by a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer blew up today (March 30) in Ingushetia’s main city, Nazran. The explosion wounded the officer, identified as Ruslan Yandiev, and his wife, who was traveling in the car with him and reportedly also works... MORE

Croatia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister, Radimir Cacic, held talks with the Russian government and companies in Moscow on March 25-26, soliciting sweeping Russian investments in Croatia (“Breakthrough of ‘Putin’s empire’ in Croatia?” Vecernji List, March 28).The initiative originates this time in Zagreb,... MORE

On March 25, between 2,000 and 4,000 people took part in a demonstration in Minsk to mark “Freedom Day,” the 94th anniversary of the formation of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR) in 1918. The rally had been sanctioned by the Minsk City Council and was... MORE

With almost cyclical regularity, Georgia’s irreconcilable opposition campaigning against the government ends up turning against the institutional state (early-to-mid 1990s, 2007 and the following years’ “summer offensives”). Motivations can vary widely, but commonalities prevail and seem perennial, including high emotionalism and imaginative representations of politics.... MORE

Judging by the number of trips Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev has made to Chechnya, one might think that Russia consists of only Chechnya and Moscow. Otherwise, these visits, sometimes made as often as twice a month and accompanied by mandatory visits paid to Akhmad... MORE

The Russian military is in serious trouble – its ranks are shrinking rapidly. Russia’s birthrate is low, the population is shrinking and with it the number of available conscripts, while hundreds of thousands dodge the draft and make the situation worse. The crisis is so... MORE

As the trials against 37 people for organizing and participating in the December Zhanaozen riots are starting in Aktau on March 27, the Kazakh authorities continue implementing a comprehensive program to mitigate the core reasons for the conflict, prevent social tensions in the future, and... MORE