Since Vladimir Putin launched his expanded invasion of Ukraine last year and annexed more of the country into Russia—as he began to do in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea— relations between Kazakhstan and Russia have deteriorated (see EDM, September 9, 2021, and June 28,... MORE

*Read Part One. Earlier this year, Moldovan President Maia Sandu initiated a national pedagogical effort to convince a skeptical populace to take national security and defense seriously and accept higher budget expenditures for this sector (see Part One, October 13). The new National Security Strategy,... MORE

On October 11, President Maia Sandu unveiled Moldova’s new National Security Strategy, an inter-agency product of the country’s Supreme Security Council and other relevant government institutions. The document assesses Russia’s agenda in the region as posing direct threats to Moldova’s aspirations to join the European... MORE

As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine drags on, Ukraine is stepping up its efforts to attract the non-Russian peoples of Russia to its side. Kyiv is working from the long-standing conviction that these nations are natural allies in resisting Russian imperialism. Ukraine’s current... MORE

Belarus-watchers, including policymakers, can do more to understand several important facts about Belarus as a national community. First, Belarusian nation-building is still a work in progress. Second, the Belarusian national movement was a latecomer compared with those of the Russians and Poles and was less... MORE

The number of registered “Cossacks” involved in the “Special Military Operation” (SVO) in Eastern Ukraine has risen to 25,000, taking into account rotations and leaves. This number was mentioned in announcements at the All-Russian Forum “Cossacks in the North Caucasus: Current Stage and Image of... MORE

Over the past weekend, the Telegram channel "Nezygar," closely aligned with the Russian presidential administration, erupted with posts criticizing the liberal positions prevalent among Russian exiles. The channel's authors and experts concurred that the so-called "non-systemic opposition," currently residing abroad, lacks both a substantial following... MORE

Last week, the annual gathering of the Valdai International Discussion Club was held in Sochi, Russia. Today, this conference does not deserve the attention such events used to have a decade ago, when many Western experts saw it as a unique opportunity to gain access... MORE

Many Russians, including senior members of the Vladimir Putin regime, fear that the influx of Muslim migrant workers from Central Asia could jeopardize the core of Russian culture and the Russian Federation itself. These migrants make up over 80 percent of the more than ten... MORE

*Read Part Two. On September 28, the leader of the separatist regime in Karabakh signed an order to dissolve all “state” agencies and organizations by the end of 2023 (Armenpress.am, September 28). This was accompanied by a mass exodus of the Armenian population from the... MORE