On July 31, the international Contact Group, which aims to resolve the crisis in Ukraine (see EDM, July 18), met in Zaslavl, Belarus. It was attended by former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, Russia’s ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov, some representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s... MORE

Russian State Duma deputy in the Committee on Defense Viktor Vodolatsky, who is also the supreme ataman (head) of the Union of Cossack Forces in Russia and Abroad, openly admitted that Russian Cossacks are actively engaged in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the... MORE

The newly-installed “prime minister of the Donetsk people’s republic (DPR),” Aleksandr Zakharchenko, was apparently asked to convey a reassuring message to Russia’s public in anticipation of a Ukrainian siege of the city of Donetsk. Following six weeks of military reverses and shrinkage of “DPR’s” territory,... MORE

The titular “prime minister of the Donetsk people’s republic,” Aleksandr Boroday, returned from a week-long Moscow visit to usher in another reorganization of “DPR’s” hierarchy. This time, the reshuffle has to do with “DPR’s” preparations for a possible siege of the city of Donetsk by... MORE

Building a giant version of Transnistria in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces (Donbas) is Russia’s current policy, but it was not its start-off option. It became a fall-back plan when Moscow’s even more ambitious “Novorossiya” project failed (at least temporarily) in the other six provinces... MORE

With the arrival of August, political expectations in Russia, informed by the long experience of setbacks and disasters, are turning negative. Second thoughts about the “victorious” war with Georgia that erupted six years ago blend with reflections on the centennial anniversary of World War I... MORE

Western diplomacy seems about to revert to pressuring Ukraine into a disadvantageous armistice and negotiations with Russia’s protégés in the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics.” This could become the basis for creating a Transnistria-type Russian protectorate, frozen in place and time on Ukraine’s territory (see... MORE

Executive Summary The Russia-supported separatists operating in eastern Ukraine as well as some of their backers in Russia are increasingly espousing a radical ideology based on a meld of Christian Orthodoxy, expansionist Eurasianism, and irredentist state aggression. One important figure closely tied into this group... MORE

On July 28, Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan remarked that Russia’s March 18 unilateral annexation of Crimea has caused massive energy asset losses to Ukraine (uapress.info, July 28). Prodan said, “Taking into account all the energy facilities in Crimea, we are talking... MORE

Intercepts of Moscow-Donetsk telephone conversations, made public by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), reveal pessimism and demoralization on the part of at least some of the secessionist “republic’s” leadership. On July 28, the SBU released audio recordings with transcripts of two telephone conversations, both initiated from... MORE