Moldova’s upcoming parliamentary election (February 24) is a three-cornered contest between de facto state ruler Vladimir Plahotniuc’s Democratic Party, nominal head of state Igor Dodon’s Socialist Party, and the pro-Western, mainly extra-parliamentary “NOW” bloc (see EDM, December 14, 2018; January 31, 2019; February 6, 2019).... MORE

On January 26, Ukrainian State Concern Ukroboronprom announced an agreement between the Turkish company Baykar Makina and Ukraine’s state-owned arms trader Ukrspecexport (part of Ukroboronprom) to procure 12 Bayraktar TB2 operational/tactical-level strike unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for $69 million (Ukroboronprom, January 26; see EDM, January... MORE

The upcoming Moldovan parliamentary elections (February 24) refocus attention on Russia’s current political objectives toward Moldova and the small country’s own vulnerabilities vis-à-vis Russia. In the general context of Russian influence operations and meddling with foreign elections, the debate on Moldova’s elections and post-election outlook... MORE

Those taking a stand on Russian-Belarusian tensions around the so-called oil tax maneuver (see EDM, October 1, 2018; December 12, 2018; January 14, 15, 2019) fall into two main categories: 1) ones carefully trying to examine the core of the issue and 2) politicized speculators.... MORE

Perhaps no world leader in history has used television so massively to build his power at home and project his country’s influence abroad than Russian President Vladimir Putin. And perhaps no population—with the exception of the Russians themselves—has been more frequently accused of buying into... MORE

With the level of tensions between the Russian Federation and Ukraine over the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait at their highest level in years, European countries and institutions have been exhibiting mounting concerns and growing willingness to try to address this explosive situation. Notably,... MORE

The Donald Trump administration has moved beyond browbeating the European countries involved in the Nord Stream Two project and threatening sanctions against the natural gas pipeline’s partners; it is now making the same threats against its contractors. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her successor... MORE

There is a growing perception that, in their efforts to undermine the US-built international rule-based system, Russia and China pursue quite different strategies. While Russia usually plays the role of the loud disruptor, China seems to prefer the role of a silent replacer, all the... MORE

The new plan for peace in Ukraine’s east, disclosed by Ambassador Martin Sajdik (see EDM, January 30, 2019) and the reactions to it from Kyiv, Moscow, Donetsk and Luhansk (see below), illustrate three basic facts about the Russian-imposed Minsk “agreements” and their non-implementation from 2014/2015... MORE

Moscow is no longer inclined, even pro forma, to consider the terms of a United Nations peace mission in Ukraine’s east. A full year has elapsed since the Kremlin’s negotiator on this issue (and overseer of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territory), Vladislav Surkov, last consented to meet... MORE