On April 5, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka paid a visit to Moscow for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that lasted six hours until 2:00 AM the next day (Myfin.by, April 6). Considering how frequently the two leaders have been meeting face-to-face—ten times... MORE

In September 2023, Russia and Belarus are scheduled to carry out the joint military exercises Union Shield 2023, aimed at improving interoperability of the two countries’ military command and control (Belta, November 2, 2022). And preparations for the operational drill on Belarusian soil have already... MORE

On March 25, the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, in a letter to the spiritual head of global Christian Orthodoxy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, called for defusing tensions in the Ukrainian Orthodox community. The letter stated: “The government of Ukraine has... MORE

As Russia’s assault on Ukraine gradually descends into a stalemate, the Russian government is increasingly concerned about Western responses to its aggression, particularly military exercises in formerly quiet and largely neutralist Scandinavia. Arctic Forge 23, a joint month-long Western military exercise in Finland and Norway,... MORE

A common detail ties together the histories of Russia’s three neighboring countries—Latvia, Estonia and Finland. At various times in 1920, all three countries signed peace treaties with Russia, which, at the time, was referred to as the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). In truth,... MORE

The Belarusian political regime headed by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is almost 29 years old, and its endurance should be scrutinized by advanced political scientists. Suffice it to say that it has lived under Western-imposed sanctions since 1996, albeit with intermissions, such as between 2015 and... MORE

On January 22, Belarusians identifying as pro-Western (as opposed to those who identify as Russo-centric) celebrated the 160th anniversary of the so-called Kastus Kalinowski uprising on Belarusian soil. Thus, Belarusian émigrés organized a performance in front of the Russian embassy in Warsaw in commemoration. The... MORE

*Read Part One here. The recently established military relationship between South Korea and Poland is a multidimensional phenomenon, reaching beyond security in its traditional meaning. In fact, large-scale arms contracts are almost always politicized and followed or accompanied by intensified economic ties. Certainly, in the... MORE

Numerous Russian media outlets (e.g., RBC, January 22) echoed the content of a recent US media report, according to which rare earth metals necessary for the production of microchips, electronics and armor-piercing ammunition are still being delivered to the European Union from China by rail.... MORE

In the ninth month of Russia’s war against Ukraine, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the Russian army is being gradually overtaken by “shell hunger.” This should be expected based on earlier analyses made in August 2022 (see EDM, August 16, 18) and has been... MORE