The spokesperson for Gazprom, Sergey Kupriyanov, stated, on April 15, that the company had resumed gas imports from Turkmenistan (News Central Asia, April 16). His announcement was immediately confirmed by a statement from TurkmenGaz, Turkmenistan’s state natural gas company (Oilgas.gov.tm, April 15). Discussion on the... MORE

Many have been struck by the fact that Russians have largely not actively protested against President Vladimir Putin’s military actions in Syria, unlike against his war in Ukraine. It has been suggested that, perhaps, this reflects the fact that Russians know far more about Ukraine... MORE

The independent pollster Levada Tsentr regularly tests Russians’ attitudes toward former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, and it recently published a report showing that love, admiration and respect for Stalin is now the highest it has been since 2000. Some 70 percent of Russians currently see... MORE

Belarus’s relations with Russia, the country’s most powerful neighbor and donor, have markedly deteriorated in recent weeks. On the surface, nothing seems to be further complicating the Belarusian-Russian relationship, beyond Russia’s so-called oil-tax maneuver (making oil more expensive for Belarus—see EDM, January 14) and hardline... MORE

Myrotvorets, a controversial independent Ukrainian website that claims to track persons threatening Ukraine’s security, has called on the authorities in Kyiv to investigate Russia’s alleged use of cryptocurrencies (via the WEX digital currency exchange platform) to fund subversive activities potentially in support of one of... MORE

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron each conferred with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Berlin and Paris, respectively, on the same day, April 12, between the two rounds of Ukraine’s presidential election. With challenger Volodymyr Zelensky far ahead in the opinion polls,... MORE

With surging American and Middle Eastern liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports already threatening Gazprom’s pipeline-based market share in Europe (see EDM, April 3), the Russian energy giant is lambasting another LNG competitor—Novatek, a Russian rival. Novatek denies that it poses a major threat to Gazprom’s... MORE

On orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin, his agent Yevgeny Prigozhin—popularly known as “the cook” because of his ownership of a catering company—has inserted “political technologists” in at least 20 African countries. These Russian operatives are meant to ensure the continuation in office of Moscow’s... MORE

It seems logical that, given the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military frequently plays a significant role in political life. The presidential election of 2019 is, therefore, no exception. Almost all major candidates have to some degree used themes of war and the... MORE

In 2014, the dramatic deterioration of political relations between Russia and the West resulted in the Kremlin’s growing emphasis on military-patriotic upbringing of Russian youth. However, in spite of certain seemingly noble goals (e.g., elimination of youth criminality, the integration of less fortunate children and... MORE