On September 15, the European Commission decided not to extend the ban on imports of certain grain exports from Ukraine. The ban was imposed after five European Union member states—Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia—effectively pressured Brussels to impose it, fearing destabilization of their domestic... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has struggled to maintain control over religious radicals and other aggressive advocates of his war against Ukraine, though his political ideology and worldview do not significantly differ from their own (see EDM, August 17). Conversely, these same radicals, recognizing the Kremlin’s... MORE

*Read Part One. The Kremlin offered Turkey several major, highly attractive business projects at the bilateral summit in Sochi on September 4. These would further increase Turkey’s reliance on Russia in key economic sectors and on Russian-generated revenues (see Part One). By the same token, it... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sternly rebuffed his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyp Erdogan’s ambitions to play peacemaker in the Russo-Ukrainian war and partially ease Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports. Receiving Erdogan in Sochi on September 4, Putin made clear that he had no use... MORE

On July 6, Albanian President Bayram Begai visited Azerbaijan and engaged in discussions with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on bilateral political relations, joint activities in international organizations, trade, economic matters and investment opportunities (Kaspi.az; Report.az, July 8). These talks underlined Baku’s increased attention to... MORE

On August 13, a warship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet executed a board-and-search operation of a Turkish freighter that was passing through Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) en route to Ukraine to load grain. The Russian crew fired warning shots from automatic weapons to intimidate... MORE

*Read Part One. *Read Part Two. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) summit in Vilnius on July 11 and 12 upgraded the old NATO-Ukraine Commission to a NATO-Ukraine Council, which allows Ukraine to call for consultations during crisis situations (see EDM, July 13, 17, 19).... MORE

On July 17, Russia unilaterally suspended the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (“grain deal”), the year-old arrangement that has allowed Ukraine to export grain—albeit under Russian-imposed conditions—from the three ports in and near Odesa. The Kremlin and its navy had (until now) only... MORE

*Read Part One. *Read Part Two. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has conclusively won the Baltic Sea; however, it risks losing the Black Sea in terms of naval posturing and discretionary air access. NATO’s summit, on July 11 and 12 in Vilnius, marked the... MORE

“Azerbaijan has proven to be a reliable partner of NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization],” declared President Ilham Aliyev in December 2021 during his visit to NATO Headquarters in Brussels. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed this statement by referring to Azerbaijan as “a valued partner.” Stoltenberg... MORE