The current escalation of tensions around eastern Ukraine is dangerous and may appear untimely and inopportune while Europe and Russia seek to focus on managing the latest COVID-19 pandemic wave as well as addressing its accumulating economic and social consequences. Nevertheless, a deliberate political choice... MORE

As Russia appears to be escalating the war in eastern Ukraine (see EDM, March 11), the debate in the West on possible sanctions against Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime goes on. One of the potential actions presumably under consideration may be the imposition of an... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron conferred, on March 30, by video-conference on multiple international issues, including the intensification of the “internal conflict in Ukraine” (according to Putin) or “conflict in Ukraine” (Merkel and Macron, though still not... MORE

Belarusian authorities denied the official request of the opposition (see EDM, March 17) to celebrate Freedom Day on March 25. A year ago (April 2020), the government declared that anyone petitioning for the right to hold a public gathering would first have to attain consent... MORE

The Kremlin’s representative to negotiations over Russia’s war in Ukraine’s east, Dmitry Kozak, is undoubtedly the source of the outpouring of secret documents to the Russian daily Kommersant (March 24), revealing the negotiating positions of the parties to the Normandy process (Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine).... MORE

On March 6, a modernized Georgian Su-25UB Grach (NATO classification: “Frogfoot”) ground-attack/close air support (CAS) jet, successfully completed a post-repair test flight (Business-partner.ge, March 6). The reconstruction and modernization of Georgia’s fleet of Su-25 aircraft is being carried out in cooperation with Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacture... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Decree No. 201 came into effect on March 20, 2021. The executive edict adds Crimea and Sevastopol to “the list of Russia’s border territories where foreign citizens, stateless persons, and foreign legal entities cannot own land.” As such, non-Russians, including Ukrainian... MORE

Russia abandoned the ceasefire in Ukraine’s east in early February (see EDM, February 18) and persists with low-intensity positional warfare to date, killing and wounding several Ukrainian soldiers every week. Ukraine responds with unilateral self-restraint, lest it be accused of breaching itself the ceasefire or... MORE

Signs of the Belarusian government’s rising self-confidence in the face of domestic protests and Western reproaches have been multiplying in recent weeks. First of all, arrests of opposition activists continue.  Thus, on March 16, the authorities in Minsk apprehended two women, 32 and 42 years... MORE

Following the latest round of consultations of political advisors within the so-called Normandy format (Ukraine, Russia, France, Germany), Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, stated in a letter that Kyiv will not accept any of the proposals regarding the... MORE