The constitutional amendments Armenia adopted in December 2015 provided for a fundamental change—shifting from a presidential to a parliamentary system, but establishing a transitional period until the end of Serzh Sargsyan’s second presidential term in 2018. The new president elected by the National Assembly in... MORE

During Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s meeting in Washington with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on January 16, a suggestion reportedly came up to transfer the venue of talks and negotiations about the war in eastern Ukraine from Minsk to Astana. An avalanche of opinions followed.... MORE

Russian affairs used to attract outsized attention at the annual gatherings of the World Economic Forum in Davos. But this year, the global business elite appeared not to be interested in either the problems or opportunities connected to this troubled and trouble-making power. Moscow’s delegation... MORE

The Belarusian opposition is looking forward to the centennial of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BPR). Proclaimed by a group of nationalist activists on March 25, 1918, this entity existed until December 1918 under German military occupation. The BPR lacked most of the typical trappings of... MORE

On January 10, Maltese authorities revealed that 730 prominent Russian businessmen and politicians (along with their families) have acquired Maltese citizenship (Gov.mt, December 22, 2017). The list contains the names of such well-known Russian millionaires, top managers and financial-sector representatives as Arkady Volozh (the principal... MORE

Technological breakthroughs in Russian military aviation and the expansion of a Russian airbase in Kaliningrad mean that the opening of a Russian military airfield in Belarus would do less for Russia’s defense posture than many had thought only a few years ago. At the same... MORE

On January 9, the so-called “president” of the Russian-backed “South Ossetian republic” (“Tskhinvali region”), Anatoly Bibilov, undertook a three-day visit to Republika Srpska, a constituent entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina. There, he held a meeting with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik and took part in the disputed Day of the Republic celebrations in the... MORE

In the four years that have passed since Russia annexed Crimea, the number of Russian submarines active in the Black Sea has grown from one to seven. These submarines pose a grave threat to the security of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) eastern flank.... MORE

Belarus experienced multiple ups and downs during 2017, but has emerged with its sovereignty intact and in many ways increasing freedom of action on the international stage. The country overcame its 2.5-year-long economic decline largely due to favorable price dynamics of key Belarusian exports. Structural... MORE

The biggest success for all three Baltic countries—Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia—last year was the arrival of the multinational battalion groups to the region, thus implementing the decisions reached at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) 2016 summit in Warsaw (see EDM, February 23, 2017). Furthermore,... MORE