“Utmost uncertainty” is perhaps the most fitting label summarizing the current situation in Belarus. Against the backdrop of a possible recession, international oil prices plummeted on March 9, in the wake of Russia’s decision to pull out of the so-called OPEC+ agreement with Saudi Arabia,... MORE

When the coronavirus outbreak in China’s Wuhan Province began late last year, many in Moscow and the West assumed that Siberia and the Russian Far East, which share more than 4,200 kilometers of common border with China and across which numerous traders pass every day,... MORE

The convoluted intrigue with revising Russia’s Constitution came to a logical yet shockingly abrupt conclusion on March 10, distracting the elites and society at large from worries about the coronavirus pandemic and pushing them to reflect on the new political reality. President Vladimir Putin set... MORE

Introduction Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus (新型冠状病毒, xinxing guanzhuang bingdu) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), wildlife trade and consumption have become a top issue in the country. The disease, which has caused 3,215 deaths in China and over 6,500 total deaths... MORE

Introduction Since January, much of the international news coverage surrounding the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been dominated by the story of the COVID-19 outbreak—a previously unknown coronavirus that first manifested in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in early December, and which has... MORE

Around the New Year, reports first began to emerge of a novel coronavirus (since designated as “COVID-19” by the World Health Organization) originating in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. This disease outbreak has since become a major international health crisis, with official figures indicating... MORE

The Coordinating Council of Circassian civil society organizations of Kabardino-Balkaria appealed to the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, to recall the ambassador to Turkey, Aleksei Yerkhov. In a recent interview with the Abkhazian service of Sputnik News, the Russian envoy... MORE

On February 20, former interior minister (2004–2012) and former prime minister (2012) Vano Merabishvili was released from prison in Tbilisi, where he spent six years and nine months in solitary confinement (Interpressnews February 20). Merabishvili—widely known as the “Georgian strongman” during his time in government... MORE

Hate crimes in Russia have decreased significantly since 2009–2010, reaching levels similar to Western countries in the later part of the 2010s (Sova-center.ru, accessed February 9). However, a recent report from the SOVA Center for Information and Analysis—a non-governmental monitor of extreme nationalism and racism... MORE

The Kremlin did not utter even one word to mark the fifth anniversary of the high-profile murder that happened right under the walls of the seat of power in Russia. Boris Nemtsov, a joyful and charismatic leader of the democratic opposition, was shot as he... MORE