Tomorrow (August 3), a remarkable event is slated to occur: For the first time ever, regularly scheduled civil aviation flights will begin between Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan in the Middle Volga, and Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan in the North Caucasus. That development is... MORE

In mid-July, Kyrgyzstan’s capital of Bishkek hosted a roundtable dedicated to the future of the Kumtor Gold Mine, one of the largest gold deposits in the world. According to Kumtor Gold Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada’s Centerra Gold, which operates the mine, the deposit... MORE

The last remnants of the so-called “Homo Sovieticus” phenomenon—characterized by low loyalty toward the national state, hostility to Western-style liberal-democratic values, and high levels of Soviet nostalgia and pro-Russian feelings—may be on the verge of extinction in Latvian politics. Most of the country’s main political... MORE

The fruits of President Vladimir Putin’s “victory” at the meeting with President Donald Trump in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, are turning increasingly bitter for Russia as initial dismay and angry responses in the United States have continued to coalesce into strong pushback (see EDM,... MORE

On July 27–28, Ukrainian Orthodox Christians will celebrate the 1,030th anniversary since the medieval Eastern European state of Kievan Rus was baptized by Volodymir the Great in the tenth century. Two different confessions of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church—one belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate and the... MORE

July 10 marked the 24th anniversary of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s tenure as the president of Belarus. Numerous publications reviewed the dynamics of the country’s basic indicators over that period and reflected on putative past and possible future alternatives to authoritarian rule there. Interestingly, the term “dictatorship,”... MORE

Every six months, the Russian government conscripts a new cohort of soldiers for its armed services. For the last five years, since the military draft was renewed across the North Caucasus, the enlistment quotas for republics there have been raised and lowered erratically. This has... MORE

The leaders of ten Georgian opposition parties affiliated with the coalition “Power Is in Unity” gathered near the Bagrat Temple, in the city of Kutaisi, on July 18, to name their joint candidate for president (Georgia Today, July 18). Presidential elections in this South Caucasus... MORE

Kazakhstanis are increasingly skeptical of close ties with both Russians and Chinese, profoundly limiting the ability of the former to recover the influence Moscow once had there and making it far more difficult for Beijing to move in and supplant it. Further complicating this situation... MORE

Three sets of law enforcement actions recently administered in Belarus help to shed light on what rule of law means in this country. Thus, on July 4, Alexander Knyrovich, the CEO of SarmatThermo-Engineering, a company that makes heating network pipes, was sentenced to six years... MORE