On October 24, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Georgia for a one-day working visit. The abrupt nature of Aliyev’s visit was characterized as “strange” and “mysterious” by many experts in Tbilisi (Civil.ge; Netgazeti.ge, October 24). Indeed, the brevity of the visit and its format... MORE

The news of Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei’s sudden death has, for now, overshadowed all other news coming from Belarus. Exactly two years ago, Makei’s deputy Oleg Kravchenko also died from a sudden heart attack. Both Makei and Kravchenko used to be the major champions... MORE

On November 15, at approximately 3:40 p.m. local time, an explosion killed two people in the Polish village of Przewodów, located in Lublin Province, around six kilometers from Poland’s border with war-torn Ukraine. Due to massive Russian missile strikes that had been targeting Ukraine at... MORE

Since the start of the Russian all-out assault on Ukraine on February 24, Gazprom’s natural gas supplies to Europe have been cut by approximately 80 percent (Bruegel.org, November 22). Such a drastic reduction is primarily due to Moscow’s own decisions aimed at stoking political and... MORE

Guns from President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine are crossing into Russia at a rapid rate and leading to a surge in armed crimes there, according to recent data released by the Russian Interior Ministry (MVD) (The Moscow Times, November 23). For Russia as a... MORE

After the humiliating surrender of Kherson, Russian troops have produced no lasting military victories on the battlefield. Even the devastating missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are not producing the desired effects. Meanwhile, contrary to some experts’ expectations, Russian losses have neither led to a... MORE

Video footage of how enthusiastically the inhabitants of Kherson, with tears of joy, greeted their liberators from the Ukrainian Armed Forces has spread globally (YouTube, November 13). Against this backdrop, the official published data on the results of the “referendum” held by the occupation administration... MORE

Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev secured a second term in office following the snap presidential elections held on November 20, winning 81 percent of the vote. Tokayev will serve a single seven-year term, according to changes in the country’s constitution that increased the mandate from five to... MORE

Read Part One Here.  Russia began installing managers and technical staff at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) soon after seizing the plant by military force on March 4 and well before officially annexing Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region to Russia (see Part One). Moscow completed the... MORE

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is the most valuable economic asset that Russia has plundered from Ukraine during the present military invasion. The Russians captured this nuclear plant with armored forces that broke into the plant’s perimeter on March 4. Russian military and National... MORE