Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have jointly prevailed on Ukraine to sign another armistice with Russia’s proxy forces operating in Ukraine’s east (Kremlin.ru, Osce.org, February 12; see EDM, February 12). Signed on February 12, in Minsk, Belarus,... MORE

Renewed high-level negotiations on the war in Ukraine, with an agreement signed in Minsk, on Thursday, February 12, further raise the stature of Belarus in the eyes of the international community. Alongside the September 2014 ceasefire agreements previously also signed in the Belarusian capital, Belarus’s... MORE

A marathon summit in Minsk of the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France—which lasted for more than 15 hours nonstop, from the evening of February 11 to late morning the following day—ended with a ceasefire agreement. The warring parties agreed to stop the bloody... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her French counterpart, Francois Hollande, have been leading intense diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis Ukraine. Yet, as Russian media reported, the Merkel-Hollande summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 6, in Moscow, following their trip to meet President... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow during the night of February 6–7. Merkel and Hollande had conferred with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv during the preceding night, eliciting his consent to a... MORE

Ramzan Kadyrov has warned that Chechen forces may be deployed in other regions of Russia to fight terrorism and extremism. “If there are such indications [of terrorism and extremism] in Moscow or other regions of the country, we will be at the forefront to fight... MORE

The week of February 2 registered an explosion in political intrigue around the war in eastern Ukraine, and some sort of pause in hostilities is likely to ensue. Undoubtedly, this is a positive development, but it would be an overstatement to describe the late-night talks... MORE

Perhaps in no other modern-day country, with the exception of Israel, have Jews historically made up a larger percentage of the overall population as in Belarus. For example, in 1897, Jews comprised 14.2 percent of the residents of Belarusian territory; and in Grodno and Minsk... MORE

The death of one of the most famous Ichkerian generals from the two wars in Chechnya, Isa Munaev on February 1, again drew public attention to the involvement of Chechens in the conflict in eastern Ukraine (Echo.msk.ru, February 2). Munaev arrived in Ukraine and led... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande conferred during the night of February 5–6 with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv. The three leaders and their advisory teams discussed a proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin for an armistice in Ukraine, and a... MORE