Ukraine’s efforts to politically and military integrate with the West greatly intensified after Russia’s 2014 absorption of Crimea, while the subsequent and ongoing war in Donbas against combined Russian-proxy army units emphasized the need for Ukraine’s Armed Forces to reduce their dependence upon Soviet-era doctrine... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. Russia seems intent on reproducing in Karabakh the model it had earlier developed in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Donbas—namely, a local proto-state with formal institutions under Russian military protection and economic sustenance (see EDM, December 8, 10,... MORE

Four recent events have the potential to affect the ongoing evolution of the Belarusian political scene. First, on March 6, the founding congress of the pro-Russian party Soyuz (Union) took place in Minsk with 135 participants. So far, even the government itself does not have... MORE

The 125,000 ethnic Gagauz who live in southeastern Moldova seldom receive much press in their own right except for the fact that they are a rare Turkic people who are mostly Orthodox Christians. But they do attract broader attention when they become part of Russia’s... MORE

On March 3, the Russian proxy representatives of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) reportedly gave permission to their military to launch preemptive attacks against Ukrainian forces along the frontline (Armiyadnr.su, RBC, March 3). Despite both sides announcing a comprehensive truce last July, 14 Ukrainian... MORE

The ceasefire on the line of control in the breakaway Donbas region of eastern Ukraine is unraveling. In July 2020, both sides—the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) and the Moscow-backed “separatists”—agreed to enforce a “full suspension of hostilities.” Both sides withdrew heavy weapons from the frontline... MORE

On March 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy removed the head of the Executive Committee on Reforms, Mikheil Saakashvili, from his position on the Coordination Council for Urban Planning. The Presidential Office provided no explanation for this sudden decision (Sova, March 5). Zelenskyy had appointed Saakashvili—the... MORE

Three interrelated factors continue to shape Belarus’s future: the actions and initiatives of the political regime, prospects of the protest movement, and the evolving social climate. Alluding to the French Revolution, Valer Karbalevich, a Minsk-based analyst of Radio Liberty, describes the current situation in Belarus... MORE

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka landed in Sochi, Russia, on Friday, February 19, and left on Tuesday, February 23. His meeting with President Vladimir Putin occurred on Monday and lasted six hours, following a joint skiing escapade. The two heads of state also talked on the... MORE

The Ukrainian government concluded a series of agreements and held important discussions with European Union officials during Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal’s February 9–11 visit to Brussels, where he co-chaired the seventh meeting of the Ukraine-EU Association Council (UNIAN, February 13). Less progress was reached this... MORE