At an October 31 meeting of the Interethnic Relations Council, President Vladimir Putin approved the idea to adopt the “Law on the Russian Nation” (rossiyskaya natsiya), which would legally define the term (Kremlin.ru, October 31). This proposal, and its potential legalistic consequences for the country’s... MORE

The arrest (on November 15) of Alexei Ulyukaev (60), the minister of economic development of the Russian Federation, dominated the news coming out of Moscow this week. Ulyukaev is accused of soliciting a $2 million bribe from Rosneft—Russia’s largest state-owned oil major. Ulyukaev was promptly... MORE

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang’s historic visit to Riga, Latvia, on November 4, marked the opening of a new chapter in relations between Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). During his three-day visit, Li met together with the heads... MORE

The United States’ presidential election elicited genuine interest in Belarus. On November 8, at 7:30 PM Minsk time, while voting was still in its early phase, the US embassy held a reception marking the event. The reception was attended by at least 300 people, representing... MORE

Mikhail Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia (2004–2013), resigned from his post of governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region, on November 7. Justifying his decision, Saakashvili accused President Petro Poroshenko’s administration of supporting corruption in the region and the country in general. In his emotionally charged... MORE

The Russian government killed or expelled nearly the entire Circassian nation from the North Caucasus in 1864, after this group resisted the Russian Empire’s advance there for more than a century. To this day, the Circassians remember this as their “genocide.” Now, the Russian government... MORE

On October 23 and 25, a team of Ukrainian hackers, known as Kiberkhunta (Cyber-Junta), unveiled a massive number of e-mails that belonged to the notorious Russian official Vladislav Surkov. Prior to 2013, Surkov was responsible for Russia’s domestic policies in Vladimir Putin’s administration. After 2013,... MORE

The sudden resignation of the governor of Odesa region, Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili, roiled the Ukrainian media landscape last week (November 7). Saakashvili was appointed to head the coastal Black Sea province, in May 2015, by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, a long-time personal friend.... MORE

On November 13, Moldova held run offs for its first direct presidential election in 20 years. The change resulted from a controversial Constitutional Court decision earlier this year (see EDM, March 8), which was seen as an attempt by the ruling establishment to defuse the... MORE

The just-ended Sixth Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee elevated President Xi Jinping to the status of “core of the leadership.” However, few concrete measures to fight corruption, were announced at the four-day conclave. This is despite the fact that the leitmotif... MORE