As the Kremlin’s ill-planned re-invasion of Ukraine wears on, much speculation has hinted at Russia’s manpower and other resources being depleted and wasted on the battlefield. One indicator that lends strength to such a narrative is the increasing use of Cossack reserve forces in Ukraine. ... MORE

On July 19, Security Council of Armenia Secretary Armen Grigoryan, in an interview with local media, declared that Armenia will withdraw its armed forces from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and Armenian military servicemen will no longer be deployed there (News.am, July 19). “This process... MORE

In a social media post on July 5, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili admitted that “the public is still waiting for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.” She was referring to the events that took place one year ago, on July 5, 2021, when pro-Russian,... MORE

The Kremlin had expected its relationship to improve with Kazakhstan following Russia’s intervention to support Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s government against violent rioters early this year. Instead, since then, relations have deteriorated seriously due to Nur-Sultan’s refusal to support Moscow’s policies in Ukraine (see EDM,... MORE

On June 27, Baku, Azerbaijan, hosted the first trilateral meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs and transport of Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (News.az, June 27). The ministers paid special attention to issues of regional cooperation and the development potential of the Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian... MORE

In the first four months of 2022, Azerbaijan’s revenues from gas exports increased about 3.7 times and reached $4.18 billion (Marja, May 19). Revenues from oil exports, on the other hand, increased 50.3 percent in the same period. As a result, the positive balance of... MORE

Faced with mounting combat losses in Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to expand the size of Russian forces there, the absence of a general mobilization plan undermines the Kremlin leader’s claims and could trigger more domestic opposition (Meduza, May 5). As such, Moscow... MORE

As the Ukraine war has entered its fifth month, and two decades after Iran, Russia and India signed the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) in 2002, Dariush Jamali, head of the Iranian-Russian Port of Solyanka in Astrakhan Oblast, announced that the first transit shipment from... MORE

On July 2, Russian police detained Tahir Sozaev, head of the village Belaya Rechka in Kabardino-Balkaria. Sozaev is suspected of fomenting interethnic discord between the Balkars and other ethnic groups. In December 2021, the municipal official reportedly posted a controversial audio message in a village... MORE

The Russian State Duma (lower chamber of parliament) deputy from Kurgan, Aleksandr Iltyakov, launched a surprise blistering verbal attack against the governor of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, for the latter’s ostentatious visits to the war zone in Ukraine. The lawmaker criticized Kadyrov’s behavior and alluded to... MORE