On October 4, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a decree effectively ruling out negotiations with Russia’s incumbent president. Technically, Zelenskyy’s decree confers legal force on the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council’s (NSDC, or in Ukrainian, RNBO) September 30 decision, which “determin[ed] that holding negotiations... MORE

On June 2, the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan (KNB) launched a criminal case in absentia against a Kazakh national for participating in the war in Ukraine (Inform Buro, June 2). The KNB statement did not reveal any information about the identity and allegiances of... MORE

For almost a century, a debate has raged about whether Joseph Stalin’s collectivization was primarily an act of genocide directed against Ukrainians or an effort designed to destroy the peasantry as a class—whose members were not all Ukrainians. That Stalin had a particular hatred for... MORE

Set against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, school shootings in Russia—such as the one that took place in Izhevsk and claimed the lives of 15 people (11 children and four adults) on September 26—seem like background noise deflecting from the main issue (Mk.ru,... MORE

The Muscovite Tsardom portrayed its relentless territorial expansion as “gathering Russian lands.” In many cases, the lands in question were not even Russian, but once conquered, they were subjected to Russification in due course. The tsars and Russian emperors added the informal but glowing title... MORE

On July 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new maritime doctrine, replacing the country’s previous Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation, instituted in June 2015 (Kremlin.ru, July 31). The highly ambitious new 106-section policy states throughout that the main security threats to Russia are... MORE

The first week of the “partial mobilization” in Russia, which started on September 21, has demonstrated rampant bureaucratic chaos, a lack of planning and a deficit of training facilities and even basic equipment (72.ru, September 26; Kommersant, September 27; Sekret Firmy, September 28; Ura.ru, September... MORE

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his partial mobilization program on September 21, officials across Russia have sought to carry out his order. This has sparked protests in more than 50 cities and fire bombings of official buildings in more than 20. Outside the two... MORE

On September 23, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei spoke at the most recent United Nations General Assembly session in New York (Facebook.com/belarusmfa, September 23). Opposition-minded commentators focused on what seems to be a contradiction between two refrains of Makei’s speech. On the one hand, he... MORE

The Russian State Duma and Federation Council are set to enact the annexation of Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR”, “LPR”) to the Russian Federation, following the September 23–27 annexation “referendums” in those areas. The Duma’s chair, Vyacheslav... MORE