In September 2015, embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad officially requested Russian assistance, citing the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed by Syria and the USSR in 1980, with Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately agreeing, offering diplomatic, economic and military support that continues to the present... MORE

It has gradually dawned on the Russian leadership that the legislation approved by the US Congress amounts not just to some more tightening of sanctions, but to the downgrading of Russia’s status on the international arena to that of a “pariah state” on par with... MORE

The US House of Representatives has with an overwhelming majority passed a bill reinforcing sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, and the Senate seems ready to approve the bill this week. Russian state news agencies report that US President Donald Trump may have no... MORE

On July 7, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and Ambassador Zurab Abashidze, the special envoy of the Georgian prime minister for relations with Russia, held a special meeting in Prague. One of the topics of the meeting was further development of transport coordination between... MORE

On July 14, Russia’s State Duma (the parliament’s lower chamber) adopted a law, which allows citizens of countries where the Russian language has a constitutionally accepted official status—Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan—to work in Russia as drivers without having to exchange their national driver’s license. Leonid... MORE

Since the end of the Soviet system, the greatest source of conflicts in the North Caucasus has been neither Islamism nor nationalism but rather property—over who controls this or that piece of land. The collapse of industry in the cities only intensified this problem in... MORE

Russian media announced, on July 14, that the new (122.5-kilometer) railway connection between the southwestern Russian towns of Zhuravka and Millerovo will be completed by mid-August (Rzdp.ru, July 14). Originally, these two cities were linked by a Soviet-era railroad that, in part, crosses eastern Ukraine.... MORE

Belarus hosted a joint counter-terrorism exercise with China called United Shield 2017, on July 11–18 (Belta, July 18). It took place at a training field bear Barysau and brought together a rapid response unit of the Interior Troops of the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs... MORE

Investigations of Russia’s interference in the 2016 United States presidential election and the impediment this scandal creates for accomplishing any significant policy-making by the US government resonate loudly in Washington, DC, and beyond. As such, the applicability of the term “Russia-gate” is pretty much no... MORE

Belarus’s independent voice is growing louder. On June 27, the Belarusian embassy to the United States organized a reception on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. More than 100 American guests participated in the reception, including Deputy Assistant... MORE