On the eve of Eastern Orthodox Christmas celebrations on January 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a 36-hour “Christmas ceasefire” (Gazeta.ru, January 5). Yet, the Office of the Ukrainian President declared that Russia had violated the ceasefire from the beginning, as on January 6, an... MORE

Combat operations in Ukraine have largely contracted to a 10-mile battleground between Bakhmut and Soledar. During this fierce fighting, the command structure of Russia’s “special military operation” was suddenly upgraded on January 11. General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, is now... MORE

According to multiple reports, Russia is recruiting Afghan security personnel, who were previously trained by the United States, for its war effort against Ukraine. The former Afghan elite commandos and soldiers are reportedly joining the Russian private military company known as the Wagner Group, a... MORE

The final deficit of the Russian federal budget for 2022 appeared to be 3.35 trillion rubles, almost $48.8 billion according to the average exchange rate during the year. Although, the ruble became a partially convertible currency after the beginning of Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine, and... MORE

Since gaining independence in 1991, Turkmenistan has typically attracted only sporadic international attention both because of its constitutionally mandated policy of strict neutrality and the extreme isolation Ashgabat has pursued with an authoritarianism so severe that it rivals that of North Korea. But the country’s... MORE

On July 19, 2022, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russian gas company Gazprom worth close to $40 billion. The deal was signed by the CEOs of both companies during a virtual ceremony on the same day that... MORE

As its war against Ukraine drags on, Russia continues to press ahead with its nuclear modernization program. In 2022, Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) were ordered to deploy 21 launchers armed with Yars and Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and an Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle... MORE

If there is any leitmotif to the current developments in Belarus, it would be mostly rooted in attempts at socioeconomic survival while avoiding immediate participation in Russia’s war effort against Ukraine. It could be that the leitmotif for developments within the exiled opposition is lingering... MORE

On December 29, 2022, Kazakhstani state-owned oil and gas company KazMunaiGaz announced plans to export oil to Germany starting in January 2023. Arrangements were made to export a total of 1.2 million tons of oil through the Druzhba pipeline via Russia and Ukraine (Informburo.kz, December 29,... MORE

Ethnic Russians, who form the core of President Vladimir Putin’s oft-promoted “Russian world,” are rapidly declining in number, with many of those who had identified as Russian in the past no longer doing so—thus driving down the percentage of the Russian Federation’s population that is... MORE