For most of the last hundred years, Russia was chronically unable to provide its citizens with sufficiently high quality or quantity of foodstuff. All the “heroic efforts” of the Soviet people culmi­nated in the fact that during 1980–1985, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)... MORE

In the coming days, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart from the United States, Donald Trump, are scheduled to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, where they may meet for an informal bilateral summit (see EDM, November 6). Putin’s... MORE

In a rare show of solidarity, a large group of Kazakhstani intellectuals, writers, prominent public figures, as well as activists of diverse opposition forces and political parties released an open letter addressed to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, protesting the envisaged lease of land in Kostanay Region... MORE

Russian, Iranian and Azerbaijani presidents—Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Ilham Aliyev, respectively—held a trilateral summit in Tehran, on November 1. They stressed the necessity to complete the Resht–Astara railway as soon as possible, with a view to developing the North–South Transport Corridor (NSTC). The NSTC... MORE

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said, last October, that there are “many Catalonias” within the borders of the Russian Federation, areas defined by intensifying regional identities in opposition to Moscow (Charter97, October 10). Some in the regions and a few in Moscow actually argue that... MORE

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has never been our genuine friend, declares the Russian media outlet EurAsia Daily. According to an article there by Kirill Nemiga, in the early 1990s Lukashenka was ready to lead the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) but realized that its strand of... MORE

When it comes to manning within the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Putin is contradicting his own generals, and he has even begun to contradict himself. On October 24, the Russian president met with youth team members of WorldSkills Russia, who won several medals at this... MORE

Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft continues to think big and strike major deals on the global stage. It recently announced a program to sell bonds worth 1.3 trillion rubles ($22.53 billion) (Vedomosti, October 26). This gargantuan bond sale will not be used merely for domestic... MORE

Ilia II, the patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC), met in his Tbilisi residence, on November 2, with Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk (Russia). Metropolitan Hilarion is one of the most influential hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). He is a member of... MORE

The November 1 tripartite summit in Tehran among the presidents of Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan appears to have opened the way to resolving one of the most neuralgic problems of the post-Soviet era: the delimitation of the Caspian Sea among the five littoral states, the... MORE