![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/EDM_draft_banner2.jpg)
Latest articles from Vladimir Socor
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ukraine-Chevron_deal_-_EDM_November_8__2013.jpg)
Ukraine Launching Major Gas Extraction Projects with Western Companies
The Ukrainian government is launching major natural gas extraction projects in the country, as joint ventures with leading Western companies (Interfax-Ukraine, Ukrinform, November 5). At present, Ukraine depends on Russian gas imports for more than 60 percent of Ukraine’s total annual consumption (Bloomberg, November 7).... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Anti-Gaddafi_forces_-_EDM_October_17__2013.jpg)
Libya in Anarchy Two Years After Western Intervention
Two years ago, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s assassination by Western-backed rebels (October 20, 2011) marked the end of all-out civil war and the collapse of the state in Libya. The United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) based their case for military intervention on... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Kaliningrad_supermarket_dairy_aisle_-_EDM_October_16__2013.jpg)
Russia Conducts Trade Warfare on Multiple Fronts
Russia’s trade restrictions against Lithuania (ban on Lithuanian dairy products since October 7, threats to ban meat and fish products, harassment of Lithuanian road transport at the Russian border—see EDM, October 11) constitute but one front of Moscow’s ongoing trade warfare targeting several European countries... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Lithuanian_trucks_on_border_with_Russia_-_EDM_October_11__2013.jpg)
Russia’s Trade Warfare Against Lithuania Is a Challenge to the European Union
Effective from October 7, Russia has banned the imports of Lithuanian dairy products. The Consumer Protection and Sanitary Inspectorate (Rospotrebnadzor) chief, Gennady Onishchenko, announced the ban, and now threatens to step up testing of Lithuanian meat and fish products at the border. Moscow has not... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Chisinau_International_Airport_-_EDM_October_9__2013.jpg)
Moldova Hands Over Chisinau International Airport to Russian Business in Exclusive, Non-Transparent Deal (Part Two)
On October 4, the Moldovan government published the text of the agreement handing Chisinau International Airport to a Russian consortium, led by Khabarovsk-based Komaks, in an exclusive concession (Unimedia, October 4).Under the agreement, the Russian side shall operate the Chisinau airport for 49 years (until... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Chisinau_International_Airport_-_EDM_October_8__2013.jpg)
Moldova Hands Over Chisinau International Airport to Russian Business in Exclusive, Non-Transparent Deal (Part One)
Moldova’s governing Pro-Europe Coalition is handing Chisinau International Airport over to the Komaks company from Khabarovsk, eastern Siberia, in association with a company belonging to Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska. The Khabarovsk company is headed by a “former” officer of the KGB and the Federal Security... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Dmitry_Rogozin_in_Moldova_-_EDM_October_4__2013.jpg)
Russia and the Moldovan Communists’ Red October (Part Two)
Last month, the Kremlin snapped its fingers and Armenia turned its back on Europe literally overnight, choosing to join the Russia-led Customs Union instead of concluding association and free-trade agreements with the European Union (see EDM, September 6, 11, 18). The Russian government is almost... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Communist_Party_of_Moldova_protest_-_EDM_October_3__2013.jpg)
Russia and the Moldovan Communists’ Red October (Part One)
During the summer months, Moldova’s still-strong Communist Party threatened to stage what it terms a “velvet revolution” by October, so as to derail the conclusion of Moldova’s association agreements with the European Union. The “Red October’s” minimal goal is to pre-empt the association agreements’ conclusion,... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/EUMM_-_EDM_October_2__2013.jpg)
Russia Accelerates ‘Borderization’ in Georgia on War’s 20th Anniversary
On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory message to Abkhazia’s authorities on the 20th anniversary of “the republic’s independence.” The anniversary marks the Abkhazian proclamation of independence in 1993, as Sukhumi fell to Russian military forces. “This holiday is a symbol of... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Barack_Obama_and_Ilham_Aliyev_-_EDM_September_30__2013.jpg)
Azerbaijan’s Elections and the US-Azerbaijan Strategic Partnership
The government of Azerbaijan wants the United States to exert greater influence in the South Caucasus, but is actually seeing less of it under the administration of President Barack Obama; and the ways of that involvement have not always been productive. Azerbaijan continues to believe... MORE