For more than a decade, Vladimir Putin has made the development of the Northern Sea Route as well as the broader Arctic littoral and seabed a focus of his national policies. And over this period, coverage of this effort has almost invariably followed the same... MORE

President Vladimir Putin issued a decree (ukaz) that signed into law a new strategic document: “The Foundations of Russian Federation State Policy on Nuclear Deterrence (“Osnovi Gosudarstvennoy Politiki Rossyskoy Federatsii v Oblasty Yadernogo Sderdzivanya”). The adopted planning text describes the reasons Russia requires a robust... MORE

Moscow plans to increase its military basing presence in Syria, building on its main existing agreements with the Bashar al-Assad regime in relation to the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia province and the naval logistical facility in Tartus. While these facilities will also be expanded, on... MORE

On April 2, Russia adopted the “Energy Strategy 2035” (ES-2035) planning document (Minenergo.gov.ru, April 2). As noted by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the country’s fuel and energy complex (FEC) is a driver of domestic economic growth; therefore, “we need to start planning now for... MORE

Introduction Analyzing Aguila Saleh Issa al-Obeidi’s life and career, the peculiarity of his profile compared to that of the many current protagonists of Libyan politics is striking. He is by no means a classic militant leader. He has 50 years of experience in legal issues,... MORE

A respected economic policy think tank in Uzbekistan released the results of a recent poll on the attitudes of both public- and private-sector professionals inside the country about Uzbekistan’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) (Review.uz, May 20).... MORE

After Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka rejected the Kremlin’s so-called integration ultimatum at the end of 2019, and following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announced constitutional changes, the following January, to effectively reset his presidential term tally to zero (see EDM, January 14, 16, March 16), some... MORE

The Russian authorities are caught in a familiar dilemma of whether to resume economic activity or contain the coronavirus pandemic and, trying to have it both ways, are blundering the former while failing in the latter. The economic contraction for April is estimated at 12... MORE

The Russian Federation is strengthening its economic integration with several Central Asian states. At the beginning of April, the authorities of Uzbekistan and Russia agreed to set up an economic cooperation program in May that would take into account the influence of the novel coronavirus... MORE

Western analysts tend to focus on the Iranian navy almost exclusively in terms of its ability to harass or block oil tankers coming through the Strait of Hormuz, an understandable perspective given the danger that Iran could disorder world oil markets if it was successful... MORE