*To read Part One, please click here. Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande have prevailed on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to accommodate pseudo-elections in the Russian-controlled territory into a special Ukrainian law. Poroshenko himself, and the Ukrainian body... MORE

Two notable pieces of news related to Belarus broke in recent days: the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Svetlana Alexievich, on October 8, and Alyaksandr Lukashenka was reelected president of Belarus, on October 11. It is debatable which of these news items actually... MORE

A village whose people trace their roots back to the North Caucasus was among the first targets of the Russian air strikes in Syria. On September 30, the first day of the air strikes, Voice of America journalist Fatima Tlisova cited reports from Syrian sources... MORE

Moscow has instructed the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (DPR-LPR) to postpone the local “elections” that were scheduled for October 18 and November 1 in that Russian-controlled territory of Ukraine. Those elections would have been staged separately from Ukraine’s own local elections, which are scheduled... MORE

Around 200 activists of the pro-Russian organization “The Society of Tsar Irakly II” marched through the streets of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, on September 24. The protest concluded in front of the Avlabar Palace—the residence of the president of Georgia. Supporters of former president... MORE

Russia officially declared its intentions to intervene in the Syrian civil war only in September, but Moscow has been backing President Bashar al-Assad’s regime since the start of the conflict. Perhaps the most interesting part of Russia’s campaign in Syria is the current question of... MORE

On September 28, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka made a speech at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. His remarks contained sharp criticism of the United States’ policy of forceful democracy promotion across the world as well as of arbitrary and self-centered unilateralism that became possible after... MORE

As the presidential campaign in Belarus nears its end, the initially marginal issue of a prospective Russian airbase on Belarusian territory has grown ever louder (see EDM, September 23). On October 4, members of the Belarusian opposition held an unsanctioned rally, in the center of... MORE

The Cossacks in Stavropol region are struggling with the contradictory goals of serving the Russian state and retaining their identity. The Cossacks try to argue that they have a distinct Cossack identity, but at the same time, they proclaim that their sole purpose of existence... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. The pro-Europe civil-society group, “Platform for Dignity and Truth,” introduced the demands for new parliamentary and presidential elections to be held in Moldova promptly. This can only play into the hands of pro-Russia parties (see Part One). Paradoxically,... MORE