In early April 2015, the Polish Internal Security Agency’s Governmental Computer Security Incident Response Team (also known as CERT—Computer Emergency Response Team), released its annual report on cyber security in Poland (Cert.gov.pl, April 3). According to the report’s findings, Poland came under a record number... MORE

The Ukraine crisis has brought Russia and China much closer together (see EDM, April 3). But Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s trip to Southeast Asia—Thailand and then Vietnam—in early April 2015, suggests that Moscow is simultaneously hedging against China, as Beijing is visibly trying to... MORE

The Russian government is considering building a new water link connecting the Caspian Sea to the ocean via the Azov and Black seas. The new route is supposed to be the shortest and the cheapest way to carry Chinese goods via Central Asia to Europe.... MORE

Russian imperialists have insisted that more than any other place within the former Soviet space, Belarus is artificial. They reach this conclusion on the basis that Belarus is culturally related to Russia on many measures, had only a brief experience with national independence before 1991,... MORE

Advanced preparations for the annual Victory Day (May 9) military parade in Red Square have revealed numerous examples of cutting-edge hardware entering service in the Russian Armed Forces. Controversy surrounds this year’s parade, which is set to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of... MORE

Ukraine has to generate $15.3 billion over four years with the help of a debt restructuring plan agreed, last March, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF, which approved a new $17.5 billion loan for Ukraine and issued the first $4.9 billion tranche, expects... MORE

The ruler of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, is embroiled in a dispute with the Russian Ministry of Interior. On April 19, law enforcement agents conducting a special operation in Grozny shot and killed a suspect after he reportedly tried to ram a police car and opened... MORE

The European Commission delivered, on April 22, a “statement of objections” resulting from its probe launched back in September 2012, which amounts to charging Gazprom with abusing its dominant position on the gas market in several EU member states. The content of the charges has... MORE

Adolf Hitler’s birthday, April 20, is traditionally a time when the Russian Far Right (along with extremist organizations all over the world) “celebrate” by attacking those who are ethnically and culturally different (see EDM, April 29, 2013). The most notable event this year was the... MORE

Abkhazia, a former autonomous region of Georgia, was recognized as an “independent state” by Russia following the five-day Russian-Georgian war in August 2008. A couple weeks ago (April 10), the “prime minister” of Abkhazia, Artur Mikvabia, officially presented the self-proclaimed republic’s newest deputy prime minister,... MORE