Introduction Earlier this week, some residents of Seoul, South Korea, received an emergency alert to prepare for a potential evacuation following military reports that North Korea had fired a projectile southward (Yonhap, May 31). The alerts, which stemmed from an errant North Korean satellite launch... MORE

On May 7–9, Kyrgyzstani President Sadyr Japarov paid an official visit to Russia. During the visit, besides meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japarov also sat down with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Russian State Duma. Later, Volodin accompanied the... MORE

Belarus’s hyper-dependency on multifaceted external factors and the role of the Russo-Ukrainian war in increasing this dependency has been further confirmed by three recent events (see EDM, April 26). First, Roman Protasevich, the former operator of the “NEXTA” Telegram channel, was recently acquitted by Belarusian... MORE

On May 22, as a result of Russian shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was cut off from the central power grid once again. As a result, the plant was switched to standby for the seventh time since the beginning... MORE

The hit-and-run raid by anti-Putin Russian operatives—Kyiv officially claims that the raid was conducted by combatant units made up of Russian citizens, while Moscow claims it was the work of Ukrainian-supported “terrorists”—in the Belgorod region took place only several kilometers away from one of 12... MORE

On May 22, two anti-Kremlin militias—the Freedom of Russia Legion (RDK) and Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC)—crossed over the Russian border from Ukraine into the Belgorod region, overrunning the village of Kozinka and sending units into the town of Grayvoron. While fighting Russian border guards and... MORE

Kazakhstan is the largest producer and exporter of uranium globally, mining and exporting more than 40 percent of the world’s supply. Up to now, it has been the major supplier for Russia and before that the Soviet Union. But today, other countries are becoming involved,... MORE

On May 26, chairman of the Ukrainian Servant of the People ruling party’s parliamentary faction, David Arakhamia, published a Georgian-language post on his Facebook page regarding Georgia’s Independence Day. In recognizing the South Caucasus country’s independence, Arakhamia wrote, “Compromise at the cost of defeating a... MORE

The Russian political class, epitomized by the ruling United Russia party and its leaders, might well be one of the most destructive phenomena that has swept the country in recent decades. Anything goes to ensure their grip on power stays firm, and the pleasures of... MORE

The noise of jingoist propaganda and anti-Western hysteria emanating from Moscow is not as monotonous as it often seems, and the variations expose significant differences between and within Russian elite groups. Recent military setbacks, such as the destruction of a mixed air group over the... MORE