On February 19, after a decade of investigations, Spanish prosecutors finally launched a major trial against notable members of the Russian mafia operating in the Iberian country. All in all, sufficient evidence was collected against 18 persons (cases, however, were opened against 27 alleged members... MORE

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

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

In recent months, Islamic State (IS) has made a number of public threats against Italy, with a number of its fighters expressing their willingness, via their Telegram channels, to target the country and claiming they will “conquer Rome”  (La Repubblica, August 19, 2017, La Stampa,... MORE

The Spanish region of Catalonia held a referendum on self-determination yesterday (October 1), which was forcefully contested by the central government in Madrid and resulted in hundreds injured in skirmishes with police in Barcelona. But events leading up to the controversial vote appear to have... MORE

The question of where to secure dependable energy supplies for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe was notably broached during United States President Donald Trump’s July visit to Poland. During his meeting with regional leaders in Warsaw, Trump stated that fast-growing US natural gas... MORE

While expressing some “concerns,” United States President Donald Trump signed the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act,” on August 2 (Whitehouse.gov, August 2)—legislation that was overwhelmingly approved by the US House of Representatives late last month. Among other provisions, the new law opens the door... MORE

Mali: Limited Progress on Sahel Joint Force The proposed anti-terror joint force of the Sahel G5 nations — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger — received a boost this month when the EU pledged the equivalent of $56 million to bolster security efforts in... MORE

Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Sochi, on May 17, a few days before the G7 summit, which was organized by Italy and held in Taormina, Sicily. The Trump-Gentiloni meeting focused on a number of pressing issues, from economic... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. Aiming for progress on the political implementation of the Minsk armistice (“to which we have no alternative”) was not the ambition of German Chancellor Angela Merkel when embarking on her visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi... MORE