Almost as soon as Russian tanks began their bloody crawl toward Kyiv, debate ensued over whether Chinese leaders had advance knowledge of the Kremlin’s war plans. The broader Chinese foreign policy community was certainly dumbstruck as U.S. warnings of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine... MORE

Moldova is responding with utmost caution to Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine since late February. The Moldovan leadership, which took over not long ago (see EDM, November 17, 2020 and July 13, 2021), is Western-oriented in every sense, deep faith included. But it lacks the... MORE

Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow has worried about maintaining transportation links with its non-contiguous exclave of Kaliningrad. These worries intensified when the two countries cutting Kaliningrad off from the rest of the Russian Federation (and Moscow-aligned Belarus)—Poland and Lithuania—became members of... MORE

After two weeks of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the majority of Russian society apparently still supports the aggression. Pro-government opinion poll organizations cheerfully report 71 percent backing for the “special operation” and 84 percent of Russians trusting their military (ЕADaily, March 6). The conclusions... MORE

On February 27, speaking at the extraordinary assembly in the Bundestag, Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that Germany is planning to build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven (RIA Novosti, February 27), which would help decrease the country’s reliance on Russian natural... MORE

The Ukrainian General Staff claims more than 12,000 Russian personnel have already perished in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s re-invasion of Ukraine (Liga.net, March 9). Prior to the attack, the United States government stated that Russia had massed between 169,000 and 190,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders... MORE

On February 24, 2022, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin launched his long-forecast large-scale military assault on neighboring Ukraine, following months of force buildup on the country’s borders. That massing of Russian military units and supporting assets on Ukraine’s borders had lasted almost a year, with much... MORE

As Russia launched its massive re-invasion of neighboring Ukraine in late February, scores of propagandists, journalists and officials—in Russia, Ukraine and even abroad—seized on an old, familiar trope: the Chechen, a fearless and ruthless force, far deadlier than any other foe. Watching the agitprop on... MORE

At the March 1 meeting of the Belarusian Security Council, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared that Belarus is not participating in the war in Ukraine. However, adding to the intrigue of the meeting was a map on open display purportedly showing where Belarusian and Russian troops... MORE

Moscow has been extremely chary about reporting combat losses in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine, electing instead to make the heads of the federal subjects responsible for doing so at the local level—lest it become immediately obvious to all Russians just... MORE