*To read Part One, please click here.   Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seems actually keen for German and French observers to arrive as soon as possible at the Kerch Strait—albeit on Russian-defined ground rules. Following the November 25, 2018, assault on Ukrainian naval ships,... MORE

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe arrived in Moscow for another summit with President Vladimir Putin, on January 22. Abe and Putin have been meeting regularly during the last year in an attempt to drastically improve relations. Both Moscow and Tokyo continue to express hope a... MORE

Turkey and Ukraine are boosting their strategic cooperation in the military sphere. Last week (January 12), Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko stated that he signed an agreement on the purchase of 12 Turkish Bayraktar Tactical Block 2 (TB2) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for the Ukrainian military... MORE

Last year saw a “trash crisis” in Russia, with multiple protests connected to corruption in the garbage collection industry (see EDM, March 12, 2018). The crisis is partially a consequence of Russians’ higher prosperity compared to Soviet times—as Russians buy more goods with more packaging... MORE

The minister of national defense of the Central African Republic (CAR), Marie-Noëlle Koyara, stated, on January 10, that a Russian military base might soon be created in the country (Business-gazeta.ru, January 10, 2019). If so, this step would usher in a qualitatively new phase in... MORE

President Vladimir Putin has made Russian development and control of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) one of his top priorities. In his remarks on this topic, Putin has regularly projected enormous growth in the transit of cargo along the NSR on Russian ships in the... MORE

Russia’s use of cruise missiles during its military operations in Syria generated much media and analytical attention at home and abroad. Despite questions surrounding the military value of such usage of high-precision strikes on targets in Syria, the success of using sea-launched and air-launched cruise... MORE

The German government has submitted a revamped proposal for Russia to “ensure” unimpeded shipping through the Kerch Strait and Azov Sea, where Russia’s de facto control is usurping Ukraine’s rights. Berlin’s offer centers on international monitoring of the safety of navigation there (see EDM, January... MORE

On January 18, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas submitted to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow a freshened-up German proposal for Russia to “ensure” unimpeded shipping through the Kerch Strait. In that case, a German-French group would monitor the traffic to certify that it... MORE

The official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Serbia, on January 17, has raised high expectations among both the Serbian leadership and the public that Moscow would help Belgrade win its territorial dispute with Kosovo (Balkan Insight, January 17; TASS, January 16). Moscow evidently... MORE