At the July 16 summit in Helsinki, a Russian journalist asked United States President Donald Trump, who had come there to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, about the US leader’s earlier accusation (Sputnik News, July 11) that Germany is “controlled by Russia” due to its... MORE

The summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Helsinki last Monday (July 16) continues to generate strong international resonance, despite apparently producing few if any tangible results. In Washington, politicians and experts are at odds about interpreting Trump’s bonhomie with Putin shown at... MORE

One of the distinctive features of a highly militaristic state is that it is ready to propose a military response to any challenge. While addressing the Federal Assembly (upper chamber of the Russian parliament) on March 1 (see EDM, March 1, 5, 8), President Vladimir... MORE

The Soviet economy was notorious for producing goods no one wanted to buy so that managers could put out the kind of statistics the Communist Party bosses wanted. Something similar now appears to be going on in Russia’s beleaguered space industry: Its firms are continuing... MORE

Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin seem to have established a good rapport during their summit in Helsinki, on July 16. The Russian media enthusiastically quoted Trump: “We got along well, which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results... MORE

In Helsinki, Finland, where he was attending a summit with United States President Donald Trump, on July 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked that restoring peace and harmony to Syria could become an effective example of Russo-US cooperation. And he added that both states have... MORE

Georgia’s new government, led by 36-year-old Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, apparently intends to focus on improving trade and cultural contacts with Russia under its “Freedom, Rapid Development and Prosperity” program. In more conciliatory language that Moscow has heard in many years, on July 13 Bakhtadze... MORE

Moscow is relocating the home base of its Caspian Flotilla from Astrakhan to a new port facility in Kaspiysk, Dagestan (see EDM, June 4), an action scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. This move is taking on a more menacing aspect... MORE

At the end of June 2018, President Vladimir Putin named six plenipotentiaries to run Russia’s so-called “federal districts” (RBC, June 26). Four were holdovers, the remainder—new appointees. But all of them, notably, had close links to the Kremlin bureaucracy or the “power ministries” (siloviki). In... MORE

The culmination of United States President Donald Trump’s European tour occurs today (July 16), in Helsinki, at the anxiously anticipated but far-from-perfectly prepared meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump comes to the rendezvous carrying the baggage of old problems and new controversies (see EDM,... MORE