Many still view Belarus’s foreign and security policies through the prism of several popular but simplistic narratives. One of them classifies Belarus as Russia’s geopolitical backyard and, thus, tends to interpret every international move by Minsk as dictated by the Kremlin. Within another narrative, the... MORE

Thanks to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as its own efforts, Latvia almost certainly is protected against a Russian military threat of the kind some in Moscow constantly threaten the Baltic States with. Indeed, a new Estonian government report specifically concludes that... MORE

Belarus’s Ministry of Culture has allowed the airing of Armando Iannucci’s comedic movie The Death of Stalin (Tut.by, February 5), earlier banned in Russia. Predictably, Russian ultra-patriots called this decision “ideological sabotage” (Russkaya Narodnaya Liniya, February 6). According to some Belarusian interpretations, the discrepancy between... MORE

In order to secure and consolidate its control over Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in early 2014, Moscow has been building a bridge across the Kerch Strait to provide a physical link between the occupied peninsula and Russia proper. The ongoing construction of... MORE

Between January 29 and February 2, a group of experts from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) visited Moldova to assist with the drafting and implementation of the country’s key strategic documents, including the national defense and military strategies as well as related action plans.... MORE

Westinghouse will extend nuclear fuel deliveries to seven of Ukraine’s fifteen nuclear power units to 2021–2025, in line with a contract signed between this firm and Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom. Deliveries to Ukraine under the new deal are to begin immediately after the... MORE

The passing of Gene Sharp, the author of the influential 1973 book The Politics of Nonviolent Action, did not go unnoticed across the post-Soviet space. A sampling of headlines in the Russian media say much about the late political scientists’ perception in that realm: “The... MORE

In late January 2018, the Ministry of Defense of Latvia (MoD) reported plans to expand the National Guard (Zemessardzes) force to 12,000 by 2027. The largest component of the National Armed Forces and the basis Latvia’s territorial defense, the National Guard is currently made up... MORE

The Armenian government expects that the long-renegotiated Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Armenia and the European Union, which was signed on November 24, 2017, will be ratified by the European Parliament by May 2019, at the latest (Armenpress.am, January 31). Meanwhile, Armenia itself... MORE

On the eve of the presidential election in Russia, the Kremlin is looking for ways to build a case for lifting or weakening Western sanctions. Specifically, the Russian government has been trying to demonstrate a purported readiness to engage in dialogue over the “Ukrainian issue.”... MORE