If public statements recently made in and about Belarus were to be ranked in descending order of significance, the October 31 remarks by A. Wess Mitchell, US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, would arguably come out on top. “We understand the deep... MORE

Russia is continuing to implement its “boa constrictor strategy” in the Sea of Azov, aimed at strangling the economy of Ukraine’s littoral areas (see EDM, February 22, April 12, May 22, 31, June 11, 28). The overall situation has sharpened since this spring, when the... MORE

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine reported at the end of October that one of its long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) had gone missing. According to an OSCE spot report (Osce.org, October 27), the drone disappeared... MORE

Three habitual criticisms have long been leveled at Belarus: It is too authoritarian, too close to Russia, and both ills stem from over two decades of uninterrupted rule by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, “Europe’s last dictator.” “News” stories about his government being on the verge of... MORE

A serious conflict has arisen between Moscow and Minsk over a proposed joint military defense strategy document. The Russian side declares that it will treat any attack on Belarus as an attack on itself (see EDM, October 23) and thus needs to have a Russian... MORE

Five months ahead of presidential elections in Ukraine, sociologists say it is too early to make predictions. Disillusionment with the politicians who came to power as a result of a popular uprising in 2014 and promised change but failed to deliver is high. Therefore, many... MORE

Belarusian-Russian relations were marked by two major events in recent weeks: the October 12 bilateral summit in the Belarusian city of Mogilev (see EDM, October 16) as well as the October 15 meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), which was... MORE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official visit to Moldova, on October 17–18, after his trip had been postponed repeatedly since 2014 (Newsmaker.md, August 21). Historically, Turkey has played an important role in Moldovan politics, routinely acting as a broker between the central government... MORE

Mikhail Babich, Vladimir Putin’s newly installed ambassador to Minsk (see Commentaries, July 20; EDM, August 2, September 7), went on Belarusian television, on Sunday, October 21, where he declared that Moscow will view any attack on Belarus as an attack on Russia and will respond... MORE

On October 17, 18-year-old student Vladislav Roslyakov walked into his polytechnic school in the Russian-occupied Crimean town of Kerch, ascended to the second floor of the building and opened fire from a rifle. Roslyakov had planned the assault so that an explosion would go off... MORE