On May 31, the Oberlandesgericht (state-level higher court) in Dresden, Germany sentenced the 28-year old university student “Lina E.” to five years and three months in prison for her leadership position in a “criminal entity.” Among other offenses, she caused “severe bodily harm” to others... MORE

The talks between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, scheduled for October 5 in Granada, Spain, were abruptly canceled when Aliyev refused to take part. According to Baku, the main reason for this was the European Union changing the previous tripartite... MORE

In September 2023, all European Union member states bordering Russia introduced an entry ban on cars sporting Russian license plates. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were the first to implement the policy, albeit with Vilnius leaving open an exception for transit from the Russian exclave Kaliningrad... MORE

On September 19, Azerbaijan launched an “anti-terrorist operation” in the Karabakh region against armed separatist forces. The operation followed three years of largely unproductive peace talks between Armenian and Azerbaijan following the Second Karabakh War in 2020 (TASS, September 19; see EDM, September 20). The... MORE

On September 1, the ruling Georgian Dream party announced the initiation of impeachment procedures against President Salome Zourabichvili (Facebook.com/KobakhidzeOfficial, September 1). The ruling party’s discontent stems from Zourabichvili’s recent visits to Berlin, Brussels and Paris. Georgia is a parliamentary republic. In Georgia’s constitution, the president... MORE

On July 6, law enforcement in Germany and the Netherlands arrested nine Central Asians on terrorism-related charges. In Germany, five Tajik nationals, one Kyrgyz citizen, and one Turkmenistani citizen were arrested in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia for allegedly creating and participating in a... MORE

At the time of writing, Ukrainian forces had managed to reach the so-called “Surovikin Line” in a number of places. Ukrainian units finally managed to break through the Russian echeloned defensive lines in the area of Priyutnoye-Staromayorskoye-Novodonetske and now threaten to enter the operational zone... MORE

Western naval powers have been shut out of the Black Sea until further notice. This is an extraordinary situation, exceedingly rare in modern history. No warship from a non-riparian country has entered the Black Sea since December 2021. And no naval exercise with Western participation has... MORE

On June 20, after meeting with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced Germany’s recent endorsement of Kazakhstan’s efforts to create alternative trade routes and transport corridors to Europe while bypassing Russia. Steinmeier declared that such measures would further prevent the Kremlin’s... MORE

At the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Vilnius on July 11 and 12, Georgia remained an outsider. Back in 2002, Tbilisi had declared its willingness to join the alliance, and, in 2008, together with Ukraine, Georgia received a promise of future membership. After... MORE