On December 4, Moldova’s Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia held the second round of its legislative election. The People’s Assembly (Gagauzia’s legislature) is composed of 35 members elected for a four-year term in 35 single member districts. A winner needs to gain at least 50... MORE

The finance minister of Georgia, Dimitri Kumsishvili, recently announced that the Georgian government is considering selling a 25 percent stake in the state-owned Georgian Oil & Gas Corporation (GOGC) on the international stock exchange in 2017 (Cbw.ge, November 30). Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR)... MORE

As President Vladimir Putin openly admitted to planning and executing the annexation of Crimea in 2014 (YouTube, March 15, 2015), the role of various Russian forces that participated in the takeover of the Ukrainian peninsula has increasingly come to the forefront. The scale of Russian... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin is putting in place a new approach to nationality issues within the Russian Federation, one that not only represents a departure from the first 16 years of his time in power, but also is likely to fail spectacularly and force him... MORE

On November 22, Vladimir Solovyov, a Russian documentary filmmaker and a TV talk show host, made a public appearance at the Palace of the Republic in Minsk. Immediately before the gathering, a dozen or so opposition-minded youths demonstrated in front of the venue, bearing slogans... MORE

The militarization of Russia has reached such an extent that not only its military force as such has become a foreign policy tool, but even individual weapons systems are also being used for this purpose. In recent weeks, the coastal defense missile system Bastion has... MORE

On November 28, the Committee for Defense and Security in the Georgian parliament held hearings on whether to amend the Law on the Occupied Territories (Sputnik-georgia.com, November 29). The proposed changes in the legislation would concern the criminal prosecution of Russian citizens who visit Abkhazia... MORE

After giving his first major post-election interview to Zvezda, a television channel owned by the Russian Ministry of Defense (Tvzvezda.ru, November 17), a week later, Moldovan President-elect Igor Dodon offered his first extensive interview to the western media—Romania’s National Public Broadcaster (Tvr.ro, November 24). The... MORE

In his annual address to the parliament, on December 1, President Vladimir Putin praised the Russian people for defying economic hardships, maintaining “patriotic” (i.e.: pro-Kremlin and pro-Putin) national unity, and for standing up to Western pressure. Putin sounded confident and sometimes triumphant: In Syria the... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved an agreement to establish a joint Russo-Armenian military unit, which will include troops of the 102nd Russian military base stationed near Yerevan as well as the 4th Corps of the Armenian Army. The unit’s commander is to be appointed... MORE