An interesting asymmetry of agendas has shaped up for the much-anticipated United States–Russia summit in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16 (see EDM, June 28). For President Vladimir Putin, the unscripted face-to-face in itself constitutes a major success and signifies that Russia, despite all its alleged... MORE

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree, on June 21, approving the Draft Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. And he encouraged President Vladimir Putin to ultimately sign the Convention (Pravo.gov.ru, June 22). Even though the complete official text of the... MORE

On June 25, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Moldova denied opposition candidate Andrei Nastase (leader of the Dignity and Truth Platform Party) legal recourse, thus upholding the June 21 decision of the Appellate Court to invalidate the mayoral elections in the capital Chisinau... MORE

A team of top-level Russian guests, including President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the heads of both chambers of the Russian parliament, Valentina Matvienko (Federation Council) and Viacheslav Volodin (State Duma), visited the Belarusian capital of Minsk, on June 19. This high-ranking delegation... MORE

The second reading of Bill 8068 (Rada.gov.ua, accessed June 25), “On National Security,” successfully passed through Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament), with 248 votes in favor, thus providing a new framework law designed to overhaul the country’s statutory national security and defense architecture. The initial draft... MORE

Romania’s lack of modern infrastructure hampers its economic development as well its security and defense policies. Without up-to-date roads, highways and rail links, Romania cannot use its interior lines to counter an attack on its territory. Romania’s response in case of an invasion will also... MORE

Russians have long feared that the demographic imbalance between an overpopulated China and an underpopulated Siberia and Russian Far East will eventually result in Beijing’s taking control of what is now part of the Russian Federation. And Moscow has manipulated that fear since Soviet times... MORE

The period of relative calm in Armenian politics that followed the May 8 election of protest leader Nikol Pashinyan as the new head of government (see EDM, May 22) may have come to an end. The new cabinet had previously announced that anti-corruption measures would... MORE

The soccer fiesta in Russia moves into its second week, but the noisy celebrations could not entirely hide the deepening discontent caused by the tightening of economic and social policies (see EDM, June 18, 21). The government has obviously decided that the World Cup opens... MORE

Few in Russia or the West paid much attention to the Cossacks until a group of people claiming to be members attacked anti-Kremlin demonstrators, in Moscow, on May 5 (see EDM, May 17). Most Russians viewed them as fanciful revenants from the past; and most... MORE