Russia’s authorities have adopted a position of studied equidistance between the two main candidates during Ukraine’s presidential election campaign. Moscow has interfered only to the extent of ostracizing President Viktor Yushchenko, whose re-election chances it knew to be nil. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Party... MORE

“The main goal of the ‘Special Presidential Commission against falsifications of the history of the Russian Federation causing harm to Russian national interests’ is to identify and fight against conscious, imprudent falsifications, aimed on the political results,” declared Sergei Markov, the deputy head of the... MORE

It has been reported from Warsaw that a U.S. military base along with a battery of PAC2 and PAC3 Patriot missiles will be deployed next April in MorÄ…g, a town only 100 kilometers away from the Russian border (the Kaliningrad region). It was originally announced... MORE

From its preliminary stages down to the January 17 first round, Ukraine’s presidential election has occasioned a full and continuous display of Russia’s strategic policy objectives toward the country.Irrespective of the presidential run-off’s outcome on February 8, Moscow has already achieved—largely by default—three basic objectives... MORE

Moscow is tightening the squeeze on Belarus’ large-capacity, in the absence of an oil supply agreement for 2010, mainly on export-oriented refineries. The Mozyr and Navapolatsk refineries and other oil sector assets in Belarus are targets for Russian acquisition. The two refineries operate at only... MORE

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has reportedly opened negotiations to purchase unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) in Israel for use within the FSB border guard service. On January 13, Kommersant claimed that the FSB had entered discussions with the Israeli defense company Aeronautics Defense Systems,... MORE

On January 13 the Russian defense ministry confirmed important changes within the military leadership (Interfax, January 12; www.mil.ru, January 13). According to an official account, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces Army-General Vladimir Boldyrev and the Commander of the North Caucasus Military District Colonel-General... MORE

The outcome of the first round of elections in Ukraine is fairly clear, despite the usual procrastination with confirming the results, but it could have more impact on Russia’s stalled political modernization than the misanthropic political elite in Moscow expects. Taking a lesson from their... MORE