*To read Part One, please click here. Drawing together citizens of various ethnicities, divergent political affiliations, and fluid views on Moldova’s ultimate orientation (see Part One, EDM, January 28), recent massive social protests in Chisinau could mark the birth of a Moldovan civic identity, one... MORE

Ramzan Kadyrov and his Russian critics have squabbled for the last two weeks. Most of those who criticized Kadyrov are either members of the Russian political opposition or rights activists who are also opposed to President Vladimir Putin. Kadyrov regards all opposition to the Russian... MORE

As oil prices have gone down significantly, the consequences may go well beyond the depreciation of the Russian ruble and Russia’s economic decline. Armenian Deputy Minister of Finance, Pavel Safaryan, recently stated that some of loans previously promised by Russia, including the $270 million loan... MORE

From January 20 through 24, tens of thousands of angry protesters rallied in Chisinau each day in -10° C (14° Fahrenheit) temperature to demand the resignation of the just-installed government, dissolution of the parliament—both institutions are now controlled by the billionaire Vladimir Plahotniuc—and new parliamentary... MORE

Since the start of the year, military exercises have taken place in both Chechnya and Dagestan. News reports emphasize that the exercises have been taking place in the mountains. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, motorized infantry snipers of the Southern Military District who are... MORE

Low oil and commodity prices have crippled the Russian economy, caused a massive devaluation of the ruble and a contraction of government budget expenditures. At a conference of the All-Russian Peoples Front (VNF—Vserossiysky Narodni Front—a pro-Kremlin populist organization) in Stavropol in the North Caucasus this... MORE

On January 19, President Vladimir Putin met with the governor of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Rashid Temrezov, in Moscow. Temrezov reported that the republic reduced its dependence on the Russian federal budget in 2015, and that tax collection rates and the republican economy overall were better last year... MORE

On January 20, the official website of Kazakhstan’s presidency published Nursultan Nazarbayev’s address to the nation in which he announced snap parliamentary elections. Earlier, on January 13, the lower chamber of parliament, the Mazhilis, had made public a collective appeal to the head of state... MORE

With Russia’s financial situation becoming more precarious, the country’s regions are likely to gain more power, according to the Russian economist Denis Sokolov. “If the year 2015 was the year of the zachistka (mop-up operation) against the regional elites, the year 2016 will become the... MORE

The annual Davos gathering of the World Economic Forum used to be an occasion where Russia’s always uncertain future was a key topic for debates and investment decisions, but this year it was pointedly ignored. Russia is indeed irrelevant for the main theme of this... MORE